Memory
by moonangel1
Summary: Chiba Mamoru wakes up in a hospital with no memory of how he got there. Across town, the senshi have awoken to a safe world. But something's missing...
1. Chapter 1

Why, you ask, did I choose this waaay too common, title? Well, I recently became obsessed with the best Sailormoon music video (ever) about Usagi and Mamoru that threw in a little PGSM. And guess what the title was. I couldn't _not_ call this "Memory". So if you ever find a music video with the acoustic version of that Sugercult song then download it. The lyrics fit this story perfectly even though I didn't write this with them in mind. The idea for this story has been brewing in my head for a long time now.

_(PGSM is the live action sailormoon tv show, pretty guardian sailormoon)_

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Memory 

by moonangel

Chapter 1

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Chiba Mamoru opened his eyes as a light breeze blew past the fluttering curtains adorning the window above his bed. Even before light hit his eyes he knew he wasn't in his bedroom. A hospital. He recognized the stale smell, the cold atmosphere, the faint sounds of nurses and doctors shuffling through the barren corridors. He always seemed to end up in this awful place. It was ironic that he should wake up here yet again with that now familiar feeling that he was forgetting something. At least he was doing better than the last time. He remembered his name, where he lived, what he did for a living. He remembered his friends, the few that he had, and his daily schedule. But he had no idea how he had ended up in a hospital and for some reason he couldn't recall what his last memory was. As he stared at the ceiling, a faint whisper of a curious secret sounded in the back of his mind, a very important secret. It felt like the answers were right there in front of him but when he tried to grab hold of them they danced away, just a breath away from his reach. A part of him was screaming for something, begging him to remember. But remember what? What had he forgotten? He shut his eyes in frustration and suddenly soft laughter and a flash of golden hair flitted across his mind. His eyes flew open. 

_Who is she?_

Good question. Slowly, he focused his gaze on his surroundings, hoping to find some kind of clue. He wasn't the least bit surprised to find the room empty. No cards or flowers, no signs of the comings and goings of any visitors. Friendship was never something he was very good at. Yet somehow he didn't care. Somehow nothing mattered if he couldn't find... find what?

_Find her._

His heart ached. Sitting up, he clutched his chest. The sheets shifted and a clatter interrupted his thoughts. Realizing that something had fallen from the bed covers, he glanced down in mild curiosity. In the soft rays of sunlight, a delicate, star-shaped locket winked at him from the dusty linoleum floor.

And then he remembered.

-----

"You're here."

"No kidding."

"You remember, don't you?"

"Big surprise. I think it's safe to say we all do dumbass."

Hino Rei growled at her annoying friend. An embarrassed Mizuno Ami and two annoyed cats watched on as Kino Makoto struggled to keep the fiery haired priestess from strangling the smirking blonde.

The black cat, Luna, sighed. This wasn't exactly the heartfelt reunion she had been hoping for. Maybe the girls were still in shock. It certainly didn't feel like the horrifying events of the previous day had fully registered in her own mind. That morning she had awoken to find herself lying next to Artemis on foot of the Hikawa Shrine steps. They had been confused and disoriented at first. But with a clear memory of the previous day's events the two cats had hurried up the stairs, surprised to find the raven haired miko they had been searching for standing at the top of the steps. The somber girl barely acknowledged their presence and as she stood there, taking in the sunrise as if for the first time.

Luna had no idea how long they'd just sat there, all three staring at the world with a newfound appreciation for it. It felt like ages before any of them spoke. She'd wanted so badly to ask the miko what she was thinking but she didn't have the heart to ruin the moment. Not that it would have mattered. A loud crash had disturbed the peacefulness of the morning. The trio had turned towards the steps to watch as two worried girls hovered over a whining blond who had taken a tumble in the middle of trudging up the stairs to the temple. The brunette was laughing as she and her petite, blue-haired friend helped the blonde up from her awkward position on the steps. The blonde blushed before bursting into giggles and the brunette laughed harder as they continued their trek up to the temple. Even their shy companion was smiling. They seemed so animated that no one would have guessed that they'd spent the previous day fighting for their lives... and losing. While watching the girls, Rei had smiled the first gentle smile that Luna had ever seen touch her lips. There was a hint of sadness in it but still, it was good to have her girls back.

"You baka! Stop being such a brat and start acting happy to see me!"

"I'd be happier if you didn't live at the top of ten gazillion stairs!"

"I'm sorry, I should just pack up and leave the only home I've ever known just to please your lazy ass!"

Well, it was _almost _good to have her girls back.

Unfortunately, the girls didn't seem to be thinking along the same lines as her. Makoto had already settled down to watch, scarfing down a bag of popcorn that seemed to pop out of nowhere, occasionally tossing in her own jabs. Even Ami looked like she was enjoying the endless argument between the two girls. It was an amusing sight but somehow the picture felt wrong. Somehow Luna felt a twinge of disappointment interfere with the happiness she was feeling. Listening to the girls bicker, Luna couldn't help wondering why she wasn't sobbing with joy. The very sight of them should at the very least bring tears to her eyes.

Yesterday these very same girls had died to save the world. Now here they were, alive and well with no future battles to worry about. The world was safe and they were free with their whole lives ahead of them. It was wonderful.

But something felt wrong.

"Luna," Ami asked, poking the cat hesitantly.

Trying to focus her attention on the girl, Luna gave her an encouraging smile, answering, "Yes?"

"Where's Usagi-chan?"

-----

Furuhata Motoki whistled happily as he scrubbed the dirty counter before him, glancing at the clock. It was 10:30. Good. He was halfway through his morning shift at the Crown Arcade and he was more or less finished with all his morning chores. Today was such a beautiful day. Birds were singing, the sun was shining and oh look, those two preteens in the back booth were making out like there was no tomorrow. See? Everyone was so happy. What a wonderful day. Motoki was always a cheerful guy but somehow today felt, well, wonderful. Yesterday the raging storm had been like nothing he had ever seen. Embarrassing as it was, he'd been so afraid that he was convinced that he was going to die.

Not that he would admit that out loud. He was a man after all. A big, strong, healthy man.

Well, healthy anyways.

Er, where was he? Oh yeah, big storm, impending doom. But suddenly a light had shown through and it was like he just knew that everything would be okay, that he could stop squeezing the stuffing out of his stuffed turtle and maybe even start breathing like a normal person again.

So today he actually felt inspired to do something. Maybe he'd do something new and adventurous like learn to ride a motorcycle or sky dive. Or buy a pet. Maybe a fish. No, a turtle! That'd be cool.

Yep, today was a good day.

Motoki turned to clean the next counter and a flash of golden hair caught his eye. He glanced towards the window to see what it was.

He laughed. Looked like his favorite customer was actually up before noon.

-----

Three girls stopped mid-argument and turned to stare at their blue haired friend, Rei slowly releasing Minako's lapels, having just finished shaking the blonde silly.

Rei winced but with a careless wave her hand, she turned away from her friends' curious gazes, muttering, "Probably slept in. No lightning flash of a lifetime worth of memories is going to wake that ditz."

"Rei-chan, that's not a very nice thing to say," Ami replied, frowning.

"Yeah, I mean she did save the world. This is a well-deserved break. Let's let her rest for today. If she comes, she comes," Makoto added.

Minako nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, totally! The poor thing had to do all the work. Since we were dead and all I think we got enough rest to last a lifetime. It's not exactly hard work lying around and rotting."

The cats cringed and Makoto nudged the blonde. Minako turned to stare at her for a few seconds then her eyes widened and her mouth formed an "o".

"Ooooh, yeah. Sorry about the dying part. I know you guys probably didn't take that very well," a nervous Minako rambled. Noting her companions wincing at her words, her eyes softened and she continued in a slightly gentler voice, "I didn't mean to leave you guys. None of us did. And hey, we're all ok now! It seriously feels like just another fun-filled meeting at the ol' run-down temple."

"Run-down?" Rei growled. "I'll show you-"

Ignoring the angry miko, Minako impulsively grabbed her friends into a huge bear hug and repeated, "We're all ok. We saved the world and our duty is done. We're free to live nice, normal, happy lives and I swear, nothing's going to stop us from enjoying them!"

Ami and Makoto nodded, returning her hug with enthusiasm, the blue haired genius wiping a lone tear from her watery eyes. The cats perched on the girls' shoulders, smiling.

"Normal..." Rei echoed, staring off into space.

Luna frowned.

-----

After much joyful gossiping and tearful reminiscing, the cats shooed Ami, Makoto and Minako out of the temple, claiming that they wanted to rest and that Rei was starting to look worn out. The girls accepted their excuse and left with smiles on their faces and promises of returning as much as they could in the next few days. They knew that there was something the others weren't saying but they had faith that they would find out eventually. They had all the time in the world.

After glancing fondly at the retreating figures, Luna exchanged a glance with Artemis then turned to Rei, her smile fading.

"You know."

Rei flinched, turning to gaze at her sadly.

"Yeah. Lucky me. Stupid sixth sense never seems to bring me any good news. I figured you guys did, too, from your expressions earlier. Must be an all-knowing imperial cat thing, right? The other girls are obviously in the dark about it but they'll have to find out sooner or later. This isn't exactly something we can hide from them. I wouldn't be surprised if they already have their suspicions. They probably won't take it well but honestly, they're not the ones I'm worried about."

Luna blinked. "Their best friend forgets them and you think they'll just be fine with that?"

Artemis chimed in, "Well, they seem to be pretty upbeat. Instead of concentrating on their deaths they're celebrating their fresh starts. I say things are going great."

Luna whacked him and Rei sighed.

He gave them a dumbfounded look. "What?"

Speaking slowly, Rei gritted out, "Usagi doesn't remember. Not a thing. She thinks the past few months never happened. This is not a good thing."

Still looking confused, Artemis asked, "But why? You heard her last wish, right? She told the ginzuishou she wanted a normal life. Now she has one so she should be happy. You guys can befriend her again and things'll be great."

The two females exchanged glances, wondering why his idiotic statement seemed to make sense. Uncharacteristically, Luna rolled her eyes and said, "You're missing some of the larger issues here."

Rei opened her mouth to add in her own annoyed comments but paused, a soft smile forming, "But maybe he has have a point. Usagi's current state certainly complicates matters but I do think that in the end things will be okay between us. Our friendship has always been strong."

"You're still worried about that but that's not what's bothering you the most, is it?" Luna asked, perceptively.

Rei shook her head. "No, it's not. It's depressing thinking that she may never remember us in that way. We went through so much together. Everything that brought us together, made us a family, is gone and she may never get those memories back. I'm as sad for her as I am for us. I don't know how I'll break the news to the other girls but I think they're not the ones that will take it the hardest. It's not them that we should be worrying about, it's..."

Finally, Luna caught on to the real issue.

"The Prince."

-----

Tsukino Usagi groaned as she stared at the mile-long list of chores she held in her tired hand. This morning she'd woken up with the weirdest feeling that she couldn't place for the life of her and for the first time ever she was actually attempting to think deep thoughts. Her mother should have been proud. But nooo, instead she'd dumped a huge to-do-list on her poor, suffering daughter's shoulders and tossed her out the door.

Life was so hard on her.

It was hours later and she still hadn't gotten even halfway through the list. Ok, so maybe she'd dawdled in the arcade a little too long but Motoki had been in such a good mood, offering her a free milkshake and everything! Now who on earth would turn _that _down? Unfortunately, he had turned all brotherly and responsible on her and had shooed her off to finish her chores. Now half a dozen bags of groceries hung from her weary arms and she swore not a single one of them was worth even the teeniest bit of effort. Seriously, who used flour anyways? Not normal people! Baking was overrated. On top of that, all day she had felt a stupid pain in her chest that just totally refused to go away. What the heck was with that? She certainly didn't remember ever feeling _that _before!

"Stupid flour, stupid Mom, stupid pain in my dang a– ow!"

Rubbing her soar posterior, Usagi glanced up at the brick wall that had so rudely knocked her off her feet.

She blinked.

Wow. That was a very, very good looking wall.

Her "wall" turned out to be the handsomest man she'd ever laid eyes on. Was he real? Was "handsomest" a word? Should she be wasting her time thinking about that when a greek god look-alike was staring down at her like she was the only woman in the world? Probably not.

Completely oblivious to the scattered shopping bags surrounding her, Usagi stuttered, "Uh, sorry, mister... um, sir. I guess I just, you know, have this annoying habit of running into walls and hey look, you're not a wall! That's just funny, hilarious even cuz you know, people aren't walls cuz walls are walls and people can't be walls if walls are walls and didn't I just say that and oh my god, am I rambling?"

She shivered. Why was he staring at her like that?

"Uh, sir?"

Blinking, he snapped out of a daze. He opened his mouth as if to say something but stopped and just shook his head. Averting his gaze, he quickly bent down, gathering her bags without saying a word.

Ok, why wasn't he talking? Shouldn't he say something? Usagi could only sit there watching him, random thoughts and questions flying through her mind at a dizzying pace. For some reason she couldn't seem to gather her thoughts together even though she knew she was openly staring at the man while he was hurriedly collecting her things.

She frowned.

Why were his hands shaking?

Before she could ponder over that thought, she found him kneeling before her, pushing the bags into her lifeless arms, his eyes averted. She nearly squeaked at his sudden nearness and instinctively, she clutched the bags to her, her gaze never leaving his face. He looked up at her and her breath caught. His eyes... they were so blue. It hurt to look at them. The pain in her chest grew stronger yet it felt almost exhilarating. She had no idea how long they sat there, just staring at each other. There were so many emotions in his eyes and for a second all she wanted was to take away the deep sadness that was emanating from him in waves. Her mouth opened and a name formed in the back of her mind. Unconsciously, her hand rose, reaching towards him. She took in a sharp breath as the pads of her fingers lightly touched his ashen face.

Suddenly his eyes widened and he stood abruptly. Running a shaky hand through his raven locks he glanced up at her before quickly looking away. He turned back towards the direction he'd originally been heading and took a few awkward steps forward. As he reached the corner he tossed her one last fleeting look.

"Sorry."

And he was gone.

For a second she just stared at the space where he stood moments ago. That was... weird. _'Don't turn that corner, Usagi, you just came from there,' _she told herself. _'Don't follow him. You have chores to do. Busy day.'_

Blink.

Chores! Oops.

Clutching her bags, she clumsily stood up, dropping a few items in the process. She shakily grabbed them, stuffing random items half-hazardly back into the bags, unable to wake from her daze. When she finished she just stood there, staring at that empty spot in front of her again.

Who was that man?

-----

"Usagi, I specifically told you to buy potatoes. Tomatoes are not potatoes. They sound the same but I sincerely doubt that, even with _your_ appetite, you'd want to eat mashed tomatoes with gravy."

"Uh huh."

"And this is the wrong milk, too! Kami-sama, Usagi! You messed up almost half of the list I gave you! Did you just give up halfway? And didn't I tell you to get daisies? These are roses! Not only do roses in general cost ten times more but red roses are the most expensive and - Usagi, are you listening to me?"

"Uh huh."

"Should I throw you out of the house and turn your room into a golf course?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you have any idea how little sense that makes?"

"Uh huh."

"Usagi!"

A confused Usagi blankly looked up at her mother, her eyes glassy. Tsukino Ikuko sighed. Clearly she wasn't going to get anywhere with her daughter. With a resigned grimace she told her daughter, "Why don't you go upstairs. You look tired."

Usagi nodded dumbly and left the room in a daze. What on earth had happened to that girl? Letting out another sigh, Ikuko went about putting the groceries away.

_--- _to be continued _--- _

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I'm not completely sure about where I'm going with this yet. Any suggestions? Any critiques? Any kind of advice would be much appreciated! 

**Important: **I didn't explain this earlier because it'd kill the beginning but **this is a first season story **that takes place the day after the girls defeat Beryl. It's only stated in the original (japanese) version, but when she died Usagi wished for a normal life. The crystal granted that with so everyone lost their memories and started over. In this story everyone got what they wanted, meaning that only those who wanted to remember would remember.

**AN**: So, did you assume that the blonde in the beginning was Usagi? I worried that some people wouldn't be able to follow the story so tell me if it's too confusing! After watching PGSM I'm kind of used to Rei bickering with Minako instead of Usagi. I didn't realize at first that it appeared as if blonde in the group was Usagi. I did want Usagi's present state to be unclear so maybe I did that unconsciously. This is an anime-based story so the Rei/Minako dynamic (and maybe Motoki) may be the most PGSM influenced bit. Minako is a bit of a mix of her manga, anime and PGSM selves. I found myself making her the cheerful substitute Usagi for the group because they kind of need her right now. I wanted them to have positive attitudes about their "deaths".

I had Luna to call Mamoru "the Prince" because it's really as impersonal as it is respectful. She doesn't know him well and never trusted him until his identity was revealed. Usagi was the one that interacted with him most of the time. The title also puts some weight on his shoulders. He's the prince of earth. The fighting may be over but that means something. And he's a prince without his princess.


	2. Chapter 2

**Recap: **This is a** first season story **that starts the day after the girls defeat Beryl. It's only stated in the original (japanese) version, but when she died Usagi wished for a normal life, a wish the crystal granted. So this is my take on what would happen if only those who wanted to remember would remember. But why doesn't Usagi remember?

**AN. **Wow, thanks for the reviews! I wasn't sure if this story would go over well so thank you! Looks like I'll have to continue. Many of your questions are actually addressed in this chapter. And yes, I liked PGSM. It was hokey and went off on the weirdest tangents but I really grew fond of the actors. I could totally picture that Motoki speaking his lines when I wrote this. I could say the same thing for Mamoru. PGSM also made Venus more serious. The anime focused more on her ditzy side. So my Venus is the manga one, a nice balance between the two.

Don't expect the next chapter for a while. It _really_ needs tweeking. In fact, this chapter is a rough draft. I fixed it up to make it presentable but it needs editing and is waaay too long. There's also a small plot point or two I might change depending on where the story goes. I shouldn't post an unfinished draft but I'm just feeling so generous 'cuz I saw **Serenity** this weekend! Best movie _ever_. It's also said to be better (and clearer) the second time around, too. Everyone see it so there can be sequels! I won't update ever again unless at least one of you promises to see it! (no, of course I'm not insane and fanatical, stop looking at me like that!)

On **PGSM** - In case you missed my first chapter spiel, PGSM is Pretty Guardian Sailormoon, the Live Action version with real actors and not so real cats.

_

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_

In a barren, battle-torn land a brilliant, flashing light that had shown so brightly moments before slowly faded into dust. It seemed to have been emanating from a delicate, bruised body lying in the wreckage of a costly arctic battle. The young girl looked barely strong enough to stand the harsh climate of her surroundings. Too weak, to even lift a finger, she stared silently out at the expanse of white surrounding her. A sense of accomplishment filled her. It was done. The world was safe. She had suffered greatly and lost more than she would like to think about but she knew that she would soon be joining them. The ones she had fought for. The ones she had lost.

Yes, she was done.

The great heroine of Tokyo had no purpose left in her life. She could leave this world without feeling regret.

Still, as the light faded from her eyes, she had one last wish.

_

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_

Memory

by moonangel

Chapter 2

_

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_

"What do you mean she doesn't remember?"

"How did this happen?"

Poor girls. Makoto and Ami looked so distraught.

As she listened to Rei calmly answer the barrage of questions she was facing, Minako winced. So much for her happy ending. When she had walked up the temple stairs that morning she knew Rei had some bad news to tell them. Too much was happening to her in too little time. Two days ago she had died. Yesterday she was reborn. Her life was so weird.

When she had woken up that day she'd promptly burst into tears. That wasn't a great way to start the day but those were tears of relief. Ironically, she had never felt so alive in her life. That was an odd morning. She was glad to be alive, thrilled that her friends were okay and the world was still in one piece. It almost didn't feel real that the enemy was truly gone. But she knew. She just knew that Beryl was gone, that Usagi had saved the day and that everyone she loved was fine. So maybe she was just too overwhelmed to know what to do with herself.

When she had seen Makoto walking her way she'd screamed and wrapped the girl in a giant bear hug. When she'd seen Ami she'd nearly burst into tears and strangled more than hugged the poor girl. But when she saw Rei she nearly fell over with the wave of emotions that hit her. Just seeing the miko's face had been a huge relief but the look in her eyes had told her everything she needed to know about the fifth member of their little group.

So Usagi didn't remember. Hearing Rei say it somehow made it hurt more. Still, even as Makoto babbled on in shock and Ami stuttered in confusion, Minako couldn't even fake her surprise. Considering that not long ago their very lives were on the line, this wasn't a big issue. But at the same time it was heartbreaking that the one person that changed them all and led their lives in new directions didn't even know who they were. More importantly, Minako knew that the consequences of Usagi's memory loss wouldn't just affect them. Yes, that one little wish that had saved them had its price.

"This was her choice. It was her wish," Rei told them softly.

"I don't understand," Ami stammered. "After everything we lost why did she want to start over with such a large hole in her life?"

Putting a comforting arm around her troubled friend, Makoto sighed sadly, "I guess this is her ideal life: Living a carefree existence without any reminders of her old destiny. We can't deny her this if it was her wish."

Rei cast a curious glance at Minako and the other two girls followed her gaze to give the blonde the final say. What could she do? As acting leader of the senshi, Minako knew she had to be careful about how she handled this situation. No matter what they chose to do, something would be lost. The important task to do now was to figure out just what was worth losing and what wasn't. She knew what she wanted to say, what she should push for, but she held back. She needed time to think and she had a visit or two to make. Making this decision, Minako solemnly looked up at the girls.

"Then for now we leave it to Usagi to remember."

_---------_

His voice. He'd only spoken one simple word to her and yet she just couldn't get his voice out of her head. And his eyes! Those shimmering blue eyes just captured her the moment they caught her in their gaze. Why were they shining so brightly? Why did he look so sad?

Why did her heart beat so hard when gazing into a stranger's eyes?

A pajama clad Tsukino Usagi plopped down on her bed, glancing at the roses resting in a colorful vase on her nightstand.

She remembered when she had been at the florist to buy daisies. But instead of finishing the job she had just stood there for who knows how long, staring at the bright red roses. The florist had thought she was insane. Or retarded. After meeting him her brain just shut off. She could barely hold onto a single thought for a few seconds before thinking about him.

Her mother had just given up on her when she'd haunted the house like a zombie all day.

On the bright side, at least she probably wouldn't be assigned any more chores for the week.

Fingering a soft rose petal, Usagi wondered, how could a stranger do this to her? What about Motoki? He was the love of her life! The apple of her eye! Or something like that. Wait, that apple thing sounded funny. Well, he was her guy. The one she wanted. Wasn't he?

The persistent memory of striking blue eyes told her otherwise.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

_---------_

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. He was supposed to avoid her. He couldn't deal with her right now and he knew very well that she had wished him out of her life. And what was the first thing he did when he remembered? Sought her out. Well, maybe not consciously, but his heart had led him to right her barely moments after leaving the hospital. She probably didn't even understand why he had said sorry to her, apologizing for ruining her day with his presence. Because she didn't know anything. Because she didn't remember who he was.

It had been her choice and he had to respect that. Even if he was dying inside.

"Geez, Mamoru. I can't believe they discharged you from the hospital so fast. Must be handy having connections so high up in the medical field, huh? Thank Kami-sama you weren't seriously injured. Not a single bruise. That's so weird. Brought in unconscious and you're healthy as a daisy. Wait, is that the right phrase? Cuz 'daisy' is an odd choice. Why can't it be lilies or tulips? I would have gone with tulips. They're so fancy and oooh, 'Fresh as a daisy'. That's the phrase. Okay, now that doesn't fit what I was saying... Wait a sec, what _was_ I saying?

"Sure."

"Oh yeah, do you think your minor blackout was a result of all that weirdness that was going on the other day? I swear, I thought the world was going to end..."

"Uh huh."

"... and you have no idea how traumatic it was. Only Kamekichi was there to comfort me in my darkest hour but I braved through it somehow..."

"Sure."

"... Uh, Mamoru? Aren't you going to start harping on me about my over-reliance on a stuffed turtle?"

"Uh huh."

"Oi, Mamoru, you even listening?"

"Sure."

"Ooook. Well, as I was saying, me and Kamekichi want a nice, pleasant wedding. You know, nothing fancy. Just a few thousand people from the far reaches of the galaxy and a dozen gallons of jello for a cake."

"Uh huh."

"Ok, that's it! I'm throwing my milkshake at you, consequences be damned!"

In hindsight, Motoki realized it was never a good idea to go through with any threats made to Chiba Mamoru. But, unfortunately, that thought never occurred to him until after his friend grabbed his offending arm and knocked him down with a sharp blow to the solar plexus before he could even lift his cup.

Looking down at his wheezing, milkshake drenched friend, Mamoru slowly shook himself from his dazed state, unconsciously retracting his outstretched arm.

"Uh, Motoki, what are you doing on the ground?"

"How can you even ask me that? What the hell are you talking about? You've spent the last twenty minutes ignoring me and when I, er, offered you my milkshake you knocked me down!" Motoki gasped, clutching his stomach.

"Oh. How odd. Do you need some help?" Mamoru asked politely as Motoki slipped on some milkshake while pulling himself up. But when he offered his hand to his friend, Motoki jumped back and violently shook his head.

"No! No touching! You could have broken my arm! My poor, innocent arm!"

Mamoru blinked then shrugged at his friend's odd behavior, taking out a handkerchief to wipe a speck of milkshake off of his sleeve before meticulously folding it and returning it to his jacket pocket. "Heh, yeah sorry about that. Must've been a reflex."

"Reflex? _Reflex_? You knock the wind out of me in one blow and you call that a reflex? Seriously, where was your head off to when I was talking to you?"

Wincing, Mamoru shrugged again, replying, "Just another research paper I need to work on. You know, the usual."

Motoki groaned as he dried himself with his cleaning rag, "Figures. You're so boring. Don't you ever care about anything other than school?"

"Motoki-onii-chan!"

Momentarily distracted, a grinning Motoki sat up, turning to the entrance just in time to see a bouncy blonde enter the arcade. "Usagi-chan!"

In brighter spirits, he turned back to Mamoru, he asking, "Hey, Mamoru, have you met Usa-"

Blinking, he stared at his friend who'd suddenly buried his head in a newspaper, his back turned towards the door.

Weird guy.

"Wow, Motoki-onii-chan, you won't believe how horrible yesterday was! You know how my mom made me run a bazillion errands for no good reason? Well I got, like, half of them done more or less okay and she got totally upset. I mean, I really, really tried. What ever happened to rewarding effort?" Usagi huffed as she approached the counter, glancing curiously at the silent man whose head was lost somewhere in a newspaper.

Turning her puzzled gaze back to Motoki, she watched him stand up, dusting himself off.

"Ne, Nii-chan, why are you on the ground, covered in milkshake?"

Rolling his eyes as he reached for a clean apron, Motoki sighed, "Don't ask. Just another fun-filled day at the arcade. Let's just say I need new friends."

Nodding sympathetically, Usagi said, "I see. Some hyper kid ran into you? You poor thing. But you know how kids are."

Was it just her or did the newspaper guy just flinch?

"Usagi-chan?"

Feeling rude, Usagi turned her gaze away from the mysterious stranger. Trying to focus her full attention on Motoki, she continued, "So yeah, yesterday, things were going not so great with the groceries but that's not the big thing. You see, there was this gu-"

"Usagi-chan?" Motoki questioned again, confused when the blonde froze mid-sentence. Following her gaze, he turned to see Mamoru folding his paper, finally turning around.

Completely ignoring the shell-shocked girl, Mamoru gave a swift nod to his friend, "Motoki, I have an errand to run. Ja ne."

Nodding blankly, Motoki watched his friend's curt exit, raising an eyebrow when Mamoru nearly ran into some poor school girl. The girl just stared at him oddly while Mamoru paused, probably to apologize, then mumbled excuses and hurried away. Motoki frowned, "That was odd. I mean, he's known for being kinda odd and mysterious and all but, well... ok, maybe that wasn't as unusual as I thought. Well, I've got my share of odd friends anyways, ne Usagi-chan?"

Motoki blinked.

"Usagi-chan?"

He poked her head.

No response.

"Not you, too! And people wonder why I'm so attached to my Kamekichi. Isn't anyone around here ever going to pay any attention to me!"

_---------_

"Makoto!"

"What?"

"We're doing flower arranging here, not weed-whacking!"

"Sorry, but I don't see why we have to do your chores. This festival is weeks away. Didn't you say you wanted to speak with us today?" Makoto grumbled.

Rei gave her a pointed look tuned the girls out as Minako started teasing Makoto about her laziness. Rei had gathered the girls together again in the late afternoon, hoping to distract the girls with some chores after dropping the big bomb on them. Unfortunately, Makoto's expertise at flower arranging seemed to be suffering from her constant bickering with Minako who Rei had been stupid enough to assign to loading good luck charms into boxes. Rei wasn't blind, though. She could tell that Minako was only trying to keep Makoto from brooding over Usagi's absence from what should have been a fun gathering between friends. All of them had been fairly depressed after hearing about Usagi's memory loss. The fact that they had all agreed to leave her alone while they figured things out seemed to be even more of a downer for them. Somehow their rebirth didn't seem to be going as well as she could have hoped.

Also, she was becoming more worried about Mamoru. When she had stopped by the arcade earlier, Motoki had recognized her but wasn't the least bit helpful in dishing out information on the guy. She had managed to find out a that Mamoru had been recently released from a hospital after suffering through a long ramble about how beautiful life was when the world wasn't ending or something equally annoying like that.

"You know, this isn't forever, ever. I mean, come on, we'll just weigh the pros and cons for a while then give up and ambush Usagi, right?" Minako was saying, her gaze directed at Rei as she nearly dropping a fairly large box on Artemis's tail, all signs of her previous seriousness completely gone. The poor cat squealed and hid behind Luna.

Ami shook her head in disagreement as she delicately separated a boxful of brightly colored of good luck charms into groups. "It's not that simple. She chose to forget for a reason. And until we understand that reason we should not act so hastily. Weren't you the one saying we shouldn't bother her? What if our presence in her life brings back unwanted memories of the past? She has two lifetimes of memories ending with watching us all die. I'm actually not surprised she chose to forget. It's just too painful. In addition to that, it would be hard for us to keep up a friendship with her while keeping secret about such a vastly important piece of our lives."

"Well, yeah, not yet anyways. But don't you think you're thinking too much?" Minako whined.

Makoto snorted, flicking a "wisdom" charm at the blonde's forehead, "More than you at least."

Luna gave the girls a sharp look stopping Minako in mid-sputter before adding in her thoughts, "Ami-chan has a point. We have to consider what is best for Usagi-chan."

"But what about us? I miss her! This is stupid. I bet she'll be thrilled when she remembers that she's friends with a great girl like me," Minako huffed.

"Okay, first of all, can we talk about someone other than you?" Makoto asked, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, no."

Makoto turned to Rei in frustration, "Hey, isn't it your job to knock all the blondes in our group down a peg?"

Rei shrugged, saying, "She might have a point, even if she is going about it the wrong way. Usagi loves us. Just the thought of losing one friend should sadden her more than anything. There's definitely something we're missing here, some other reasoning behind her wish."

'Because Minako's not as idiotic as she seems,' Rei added, mentally. The senshi of love seemed dead-set on restoring Usagi's memories and Rei wanted to find out why. Just that morning, Minako had practically ordered them to leave their friend alone. And now she wouldn't let up about doing the exact opposite. So Rei needed to know what was going on in that ditz's head. Unfortunately, Minako seemed to be enjoying playing up her air-headed persona at the moment. Deciding it was time to get to the bottom of the situation, Rei suddenly stood up.

"Minako, how about being useful and helping me carry those boxes out of here to give the others some more room?"

As Minako obediently hopped to her feet to follow Rei, holding an armful of boxes, Luna mouthed a silent thank you before whacking a snoozing Artemis who was drooling on some of the charms. Ami cast the girls a curious glance but kept quiet and Makoto let out an exaggerated sigh of relief before poking her head into Ami's corner. Rei noticed that though she seemed to love to badger the blonde, Makoto's insults were all made in good fun. Even when talking shop talk the girls still seemed overly giddy about of being together again. It was good that they were staying positive.

Minako was surprisingly silent as she followed Rei down the hall towards the fire room. Once they were out of earshot, Rei turned to her and demanded, "Ok, talk."

"I was wondering when you'd start bugging me. I swear you're the only one that can read me this well," Minako responded with a smirk. The girl was just too annoyingly smug sometimes.

Rei dumped her stacked boxes into a storage closet before leading Minako into the fire room. The Great Fire hadn't been very responsive recently but she felt most comfortable there. The girls sat down facing each other, Minako stubbornly remaining silent, giving her a blank, cheeky smile.

After a particularly sharp, wordless glare from Rei, Minako sighed, deciding to jump straight to the point, "You're worried about him too so I'm surprised why you haven't figured out why I've become so adamant about Usagi getting her memories back."

Rei was caught off guard. It wasn't just the fact that Minako knew what "adamant" meant that shocked her. It simply hadn't occurred to her that Minako would be so concerned about a guy she had practically never spoken to.

"Don't look at me like that! He's not just our prince. He's a good guy and I feel bad for him," Minako exclaimed defensively.

"How? You two have barely met and half the time it was as enemies, whether he was a brainwashed henchman or a foreigner forbidden on the Moon. I actually befriended him and I always, at least unconsciously, knew how he felt about her. But you! I'm surprised you even remembered we had a prince."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!"

"Minako…"

Minako tossed her hair out of her face in an overdramatic act of annoyance. But when she looked back into Rei's eyes she sighed and dropped the act.

"I felt him."

Rei started. The wording wasn't the best but the meaning hit her hard as Minako continued talking.

"I felt when he remembered. At the time there was so much information to process that I dismissed it as another mood swing. Cuz I kept jumping from laughing to crying all day. But it kept bugging me. When I told you guys to leave Usagi alone I was still sorting it all out in my head. Still, sooner or later I realized the feelings of despair that kept pelting me weren't mine. Stop looking so surprised. You may be connected to us with all your crazy miko powers and all but, when it comes to love, we're entering my area of expertise," Minako stated, seriously.

"I really did think it was the right thing to do to give Usagi her space," Minako continued. "Then I walked by the arcade as I was coming here and guess who I literally ran into? Looks like they've met already and being so close to him, it was kind of hard to deny Mamoru's pain. Seriously, that boy can brood. He looked like he was going to say something to me but I could just tell that he was too upset to talk so I let him go."

Minako sighed, deciding to get straight to the point.

"Look, before I really was willing to say, 'Ok, let Usagi forget.' But now that they've met again that's not an option. She may not have her memories but that's the only thing that's changed inside of her from a week ago. I only saw her briefly but I felt it. She's not the Usagi that you first met. She's changed, even if she doesn't remember what it was that changed her. And even if her mind doesn't, her heart surely recognizes him. They're connected. They've always been and they'll keep running into each other until they die. Maybe on that last day Usagi really did wish to forget but that doesn't mean she made the right choice for herself. "

Rei smiled ruefully, "Run ins 'til the day they die? That sounds kind of painful. Destiny really is that hard to thwart, huh?"

Minako gave her a mischievous grin, "You think it's destiny that's doing it?"

Rei gave her confused look before she realized what she meant.

"You think it's them," she breathed.

"And you don't?"

Rei couldn't argue with that.

"Maybe it never was destiny. For any of us. Maybe we'll all always be searching for each other. Our minds just are late in catching up with what our hearts want. So I'm going to trust Usagi's heart more than her head. 'Cuz that's the one thing she's got that no one can beat," Minako said, softly.

"So you suggest we try to get her to remember and just ignore wish?"

"I think it's safe to say that whatever she was thinking that day is not the big issue here. And that despair I felt earlier? It wasn't just from him. She's not aware of it but I think she misses him, too. So yeah, I was briefly considering having us all confront her but I think we can back off for now and let things happen naturally. Because I wonder if, at the rate they're going, maybe we might not even have to."

_---------_

Usagi returned home from the arcade without even remembering how she'd left. Poor Motoki. First she'd neglected him then she'd suddenly pelted the poor guy with a million questions per second. When she was leaving the arcade he really looked like he could use a break.

At least something good had come out of it. After some in depth questions, she'd gotten some helpful information about the mysterious black-haired stranger out of Motoki. Well, it wasn't so much a conversation as an interrogation. Maybe she could have been more subtle by saying something other than, "Name. Birthday. Details. Now!" She'd probably scared him a bit when she'd started asking for his measurements, blood type and astrological sign. But, as her mother always said, it never hurt to be thorough.

Chiba Mamoru.

That was his name. Such a pretty name.

Kami-sama, this was so pathetic. She could probably count on one hand the number of words he'd spoken to her. On one finger, actually. And yet she just couldn't get him out of her head. It wasn't his looks. She knew she could stare at him all day but it wasn't just that. There was something else. Something in his lonely blue eyes called out to her. A part of her wanted to reach out to him, to find out what made those beautiful blue eyes so lifeless.

She wanted to save him.

So obviously she was a complete idiot. Save him? Save him from what? Loneliness? A cool college guy like that didn't need saving. Certainly not from a ditzy little high school girl like her. Motoki had made it sound like he was a frigging genius. An overachiever and a perfectionist. A guy like that wouldn't last a minute with her before reaching for a noose and strangling himself. Or her. Perfectionists usually pulled their hair out whenever they came within ten feet of her. And overachievers? She gave them rashes. Even if she looked hard enough she couldn't possibly find a guy who was more wrong for her than this guy. He was too wonderful. Too perfect.

And yet her stupid heart couldn't let him go. Wasn't she supposed to be in love with Motoki? It felt like so long ago that she came to the arcade only for him but in all honestly, that was probably like, what? A day or two ago? Now all she could think of was that stranger. Two meetings and one word and already she was head over heels.

Yes, Tsukino Usagi knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she needed mental help.

_---------_

Mamoru wanted to bury his head under his pillow and never leave his room again. Everywhere he turned she was there. Two days with his memories intact and already he'd run into her twice. Maybe destiny was telling him something... maybe she was...

_She doesn't want you._

Of course. It was hard to argue with the cold, hard facts. When the love of your life wishes to forget about ever knowing you, it's probably safe to say that you're no longer wanted. So let go. Give her space. Let her live her life.

_Without you._

_--- _to be continued _--- _

_

* * *

_

AN – Gah! Stupid document manager's messing with the format. Oh well, it's fixable. Heh, all that hope and then I ended with Mr. Depressing. It's both fun and challenging to write for Usagi and Mamoru in this story, considering their relationship. I'm always surprised by where the story leads me when I write those two. I tend to focus mostly on them but the senshi just became so crucial to the storytelling process. So they're getting more attention than I planned. And the Minako bit just seemed so natural. I love how complex her character can be. I find it to be kind of ironic that Usagi's the story's most mysterious character.

Ok, so feedback! Tell me what's awkward and what to cut. As long as you're not rude about it I'd totally appreciate constructive criticism! Even if it's just one word that seems out of place or awkward, I'd like to know. Ooh, I probably don't need to explain this but Mamoru, and maybe Usagi, was the "visit or two" that Minako mentioned wanting to make in the beginning, and yes, she was the girl Mamoru ran into when escaping the arcade. Hm, I'm getting pretty good at not rambling too much in these ANs. 'Course it would help if I stopped rambling about how great it is that I'm not rambling.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN.** Sorry for updating so late! I've been visiting my parents for a bit so I barely have computer access. I felt bad about it so I decided to post half of Chapter 3 after some quick (and sloppy) editing. It still needs work but oh well. The second part's got the big stuff. Hm, I wrote the story like it's all happening in a week but I should spread things out more, huh? I forgot to ask: Tell me if I screw up the Japanese or if you don't understand it.

**On your comments: **Thanks for the reviews and suggestions! My Motoki's heavily PGSM-based. In my biased opinion, it's his most developed incarnation. He also has a crazy obsession with turtles, keeping one as a pet, named Kamekichi. So I tossed a bit of that in for fun. And sorry if Minako creeps you guys out or seems schizo. But I really like her this way.

**Raya Light**, you noticed my biggest weakness. Of all the BSSM characters I have the worst grasp on Makoto so I'll work on that. And **Sailor Sol**, so glad to meet another _"**Serenity"**_fan (er, the movie, not Usagi's past self)! _"**Firefly"**_ismy favorite TV show (though I'm loving _"**Grey's Anatomy"**_). So you have to watch it! And please, ramble all you want in the comments. The more you say, the more I know what you guys are taking from the story. **Miss Jessica Rabbit**: My own style? Really? Cool! I just thought I was just being random. And was it clear in Chapter 2 that Mamoru knew about Usagi's wish for a normal life? I'll expand on his point of view later anyways.

* * *

Memory 

by moonangel

Chapter 3a

* * *

"Ow!" 

"Oh! Gomen-nasai!" Mizuno Ami gasped as she heard the cry of pain from poor soul that had crashed into her as she was headed towards the Crown Arcade for another senshi meeting.

She doubted that they would make any progress on the issue of Usagi's memory loss, given their track record. Still, it was nice that they were meeting up as often as they could. Soon school would start again and they would have less time for each other. They had all the time in the world now that they had no more youma to fight. So Ami was enjoying being able to catch up on her reading. Normally it was easy for her to maneuver through a crowded sidewalk with her face buried in a book. But as she looked up her eyes were greeted with the sight of the one person in Tokyo who would we oblivious enough to run into her.

Her heart stopped. Oh shi- Eek, did she almost utter a swear word? Ami blushed in mute dismay. It was very improper of her, though it was a complete shock to see the old friend she had intended to avoid at all costs. Minako might have insisted that it was fine approaching Usagi but Ami felt it was best to error on the side of caution.

Gulping, she slowly stood up, placing her book gently back into her schoolbag. Her companion only stared blankly at her from her spot on the ground, probably trying to gather her bearings. The dazed girl was rubbing her head, wincing in pain. Bending over the girl, Ami awkwardly patted her shoulder and worriedly asked, "Um, are you okay? Are you injured? Do you need help getting up? I'm deeply sorry for crashing into you! I shouldn't have been reading without looking where I was g-"

"What's 2 plus 2?"

"Pardon?" Ami inquired blankly staring down into curious blue eyes. Had the poor girl hit her head too hard? Of all people for that to happen to…

"Oh wait, you should be asking me that, huh? And hey, I actually know the answer... Okay! Yeah, I think I'm good. No brain damage just yet!"

What on earth was she talking about? Despite her bewilderment, Ami managed a faint smile. "Um, good for you?"

Smiling brightly, the chipper schoolgirl hopped up off the ground and giggled, "Oh, and don't worry about it. It was totally my fault and I'm majorly sorry! Crashing into people is kind of becoming a daily routine for me, sad as that sounds. And it always seems to happen right around this block these days. At least this time it was someone friendly. You seem neat. What's your name? I'm Tsukino Usagi."

Neat?

Taken aback by the girl's enthusiasm, Ami smiled shyly. She had forgotten how, er, entertaining it was to be around Usagi. The girl just had such a peculiar, guilelesscharm about her.

"Oh, I'm- " she began, in response to Usagi's question. Then she froze. "I'm, um, I- I should go."

Usagi was puzzled by her sudden change of mood. Why did everyone who ran into her these days always leave in such a hurry? Everyone? Well, all two of them had! Did she suddenly have cooties or something? Pouting in disappointment, she asked, "Why? We just met!"

"Well yes, er, technically. But I'm not actually supposed to- um, I have, uh… an appointment! So, uh, I need to go. Now."

Ami winced. Nervousness never brought out the most articulate side of her. Luckily, Usagi didn't seem to mind. Reassured that she wasn't annoying the girl, Usagi grinned.

"Okay, then maybe we'll see each other later? I come by here a _lot_ so promise me you'll stop by sometime soon, 'kay?"

Giving the girl a hesitant look, Ami slowly nodded, unable to deny her of this.

"Okay."

"Great! See you!"

Ami smiled weakly as she watched Usagi turn towards her intended destination. Then she froze, staring up at the store's sign.

The Crown Arcade.

'_I come by here a _lot_.'_

Damn.

-----

"Minna, we're idiots."

"Hey!" Rei retorted automatically.

"Weird. I'm used to hearing, 'Minako, you're an idiot.' But this one's new," Minako mused, noisily slurping a milkshake.

Makoto just nodded indifferently, chomping merrily away at her cheeseburger. She hadn't exactly been the happiest of the three when Ami had frantically made the girls to relocate their Crown Arcade meeting to a popular diner a few blocks down. But she got over her misery of a Motoki-free day when their meals came.

Ami sighed in exasperation at her friends' responses. It probably wasn't a good idea to start a senshi meeting off with such a blunt statement but she had been kicking herself all morning for her own stupidity. Deciding to start over, she explained slowly, "Remember where we said we should always meet outside of the shrine, where we were _just_ about to meet ten minutes ago?"

Makoto nodded, wiping some ketchup off her face, "Yeah, of course. The Crown Arcade, home of Tokyo's best oily food, the occasional free milkshake and Furuhata Motoki. What's wrong with that?"

Ami groaned, "Usagi-chan's what's wrong with that! Did anyone consider the fact that we'd run into her? I was there not half an hour ago to get some reading done before the meeting. And gee, look who I ran into!"

"Um… Usagi?" Minako guessed, uncertainly.

Makoto and Rei shared a surprised look. Makoto asked eagerly, "You saw Usagi? How is she? Did she recognize you?"

Ami paused and smiled slightly in remembrance. "No recognition, unfortunately. But she's the same as ever, if the fact that she literally crashed into me says anything."

Minako nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I swear, Crown's starting to become biggest klutz out point in Tokyo. Maybe after one crash too many Usagi cursed it with her klutziness."

Rei groaned, "Minako, that is by far the dumbest thing I have ever heard and in no way could that ever resemble logic."

Makoto ignored the two and, surprisingly, stayed on topic.

"You know, it is kind of stupid for us to go there when think about it. It's like Usagi's home away from home. Do you think we should stop going there for a while?" she asked, looking slightly disturbed by this thought. She wasn't sure what bugged her more, avoiding Usagi or not being able to see Motoki every day.

Minako tossed a glance at Rei before tentatively venturing to explain. "Well, it would be horrible to cut off ties with Motoki just because of Usagi. I think it would be okay for us to befriend her."

Minako shrank into her seat as Ami's shrewd eyes regarded her thoughtfully.

"You purposefully set our meeting at the Crown Arcade," Ami stated, not even bothering to question her assumption. She clearly didn't expect a rebuttal as she cast a disapproving look towards her friend.

Minako flashed her a feeble smile and Rei just shrugged, taking a delicate sip of her soda.

Her brow crinkled in thought, Ami continued, "Is that wise considering the effect we might have on her locked memories?"

Rei hazarded a glance to Minako, who nodded in agreement. Turning her steady gaze on her other two friends, she stated, "Minako and I discussed this and have come the conclusion that we should keep an eye on Usagi, maybe even befriend her when we feel the time is right. As her guardians I don't think we'll ever be fully satisfied with leaving her alone. And as her friends I'd like to think we are smart enough to know what is and what isn't good for her. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be cautious about approaching her considering how little we know about her current state. But I think it's safe to say we won't do her any harm by doing so. Also, I think it would be best for her to have her friends back and to eventually remember. For her and Mamoru-san."

Minako nodded supportively and looked towards the others expectantly.

Ami exchanged a puzzled glance with Makoto.

"Who?"

-----

Baka!

Usagi whacked herself on the head as she walked through the Crown Arcade doors. Why had she let that girl go without finding out her name? '_That was the stupidest thing ever_,' she thought as she plopped down on her usual stool. Somehow she hadn't noticed that she never got a name out of the shy girl when she let her go. Too bad. That girl seemed so sweet! Pretty shy, though. She kept fiddling with her feather blue sweater and staring down at her shoes when she was talking. It was so kawaii! Something about her bashful manner made Usagi feel almost protective of her.

Wait. Protective? Since when was clumsy Tsukino Usagi capable of protecting anything? The last time she'd tried she'd ended up with an empty fish tank and a plump cat. Sigh, poor Mr. Bubbles, he never got to see the light of day. Oh well. This was such a weird week for her. Maybe she was maturing. Heh, that was a funny thought. Anywho, that girl had just been so nice. It would be the worst thing _ever_ if she couldn't see her again!

"He's probably not coming today."

Huh?

Usagi looked up, surprised to see Furuhata Motoki hovering over her with a sympathetic smile, holding out a milkshake. Oooh, food. Wait, why was he acting all apologetic? A free milkshake was cause enough for a parade!

"Uh, Nii-chan, what's with the look?" Usagi asked, eagerly seizing the milkshake and taking a large slurp of yummy chocolate goodness.

"Mamoru's not coming today."

Usagi choked, spraying milkshake at the poor boy.

Motoki leaped back with a squeak. "Geez, what is it with you two? Did you guys just decide that I look good with milkshake splattered all over me? Or is this 'Torture the Motoki' week?"

"Gosh, I'm sooo sorry, Motoki-onii-chan!" Usagi squealed guiltily, wondering why her friend had referred to her as "you guys". Maybe he needed a vacation. She grabbed a handful of napkins and started patting him with them but he quickly brushed away her hands.

"No, it's alright. Don't worry. I'm starting to get used to this," Motoki said ruefully, swatting her hands away. "Anyways, my apron took the brunt of it so I'm fine."

After casually tossing his dirty apron in the sink, he reached behind the counter and proudly pulled out a clean apron with large words written in messy, bold letters saying, "Kiss the Arcade Guy." Usagi raised an eyebrow. Ten bucks said he brought that one from home.

"But, as I was saying, if you're looking for Mamoru today I doubt you'll see him. He comes here often but he hasn't shown up since that odd exit he made when you were last here," Motoki explained while tying his new apron around his waist. Then he froze in horror. "I wonder if he's avoiding me! That is highly suspicious behavior considering he's a regular here. I bet he knew that I was aiming that milkshake at him. That sly little gopher-"

"'Gopher'?"

"- I bet he's planning his revenge on me right now. And I always wondered what he could be thinking when he stares off into space all the time. I used think he was contemplating the meaning of life or quantum physics but I bet that -"

"Do you mean 'sly dog'? Weasel?"

"Yes! That dog has been plotting my demise since the moment he met me!"

'_And I thought _I_ was crazy_.'

Putting a soothing hand on Motoki's arm, Usagi gently prodded, "Uh, Motoki-onii-chan? Do you think maybe you need a little sleep? That doesn't really sound like the guy you said he was."

Motoki sniffed, "You're right. I think I'm just getting a bit paranoid after all these milkshake attacks. First the world ends and now this."

Milkshake attacks? Usagi patted Motoki's back in sympathy. Poor guy. Was everyone in Tokyo going crazy? '_Not just me, huh?_' Usagi thought wryly. _'Well that settles it! I can't let myself get _this_ crazy. I need relief! I need answers!... And I might want to give Motoki a little space today. But yeah, first with the answers!_

'_Hm, I'll need to find out where the heck _he_ is first.'_

"Ne, Motoki-san, can I ask a favor?"

-----

Rei and Minako stared at their friends in shock. Minako was the first to attempt to speak.

"Uh, Mamoru-san? Remember? He-who-chases-monsters-in-a-tux-and-cape-throwing-around-flowers."

"That's not helping you baka," Rei snorted, whacking a fry out of Minako's hand in annoyance. In retaliation, Minako impulsively stole a handful of fries from Rei's plate and defiantly crammed them into her mouth before choking when she realized they were spicy. Rei snorted in amusement, earning herself a watery eyed glare.

"Well, come on, if they're going to remember _anything_ about the guy it's got to be that," Minako huffed.

"Damnit, where's Luna when you need her?"

"Off on another date with Artemis," Minako supplied, suddenly enthusiastic. "I think she's been kind of lonely without Usagi. But those two have gotten quite cozy lately. Yesterday they-"

"Hey, Braindead Barbie, can we get back to the subject here?" Makoto scolded her friend with a smirk, jerking Minako out of her rant. It was always fun watching Minako piss Rei off but Makoto wasn't feeling too thrilled about being left in the dark about senshi business. "Who's Mamoru?"

"Who's Barbie?"

"Minako!" Rei growled.

"Right. Mamoru-san. Um, remember the Prince of Earth?"

Ami stared at her blankly as she nibbled a fry, wondering if her friend had lost her mind. Slowly, she said, "Um, Minako-chan, there is no a prince of Earth."

Makoto tilted her head in confusion, asking, "Isn't that a video game?"

Rei groaned. "No," she retorted.

"A manga?"

"No!"

Minako and Ami shrank away from the fiery miko. Sometimes that girl was just too scary. Ami slowly hid behind her soda. Leaning over towards Makoto, Minako bravely informed her in a hushed voice, "I think you're thinking of 'Prince of Tennis.' "

"Hey, that's a good manga. I was totally hooked from page one!" Makoto whispered back eagerly.

"Oh, I know. Don't you just love Fuji? He's such a hottie!"

"Girls! Hello? There's an important discussion going on here!" Rei practically yelled, slamming her soda down on the table. Breathing deeply, and in a slightly calmer voice, she explained, "Mamoru is the prince of Earth from the past that fell in love with the Moon Princess and was reborn as Tuxedo Kamen, a masked protector of Tokyo who fought alongside the senshi."

Makoto and Minako exchanged a glance.

"Wow, that really does sound like the plot of a manga," Minako giggled.

"Yeah totally! He sounds dreamy," Makoto agreed excitedly.

"Minako! You actually know what I'm talking about and you still manage to sound like an idiot. How is that possible?" Rei groaned in frustration, wondering why she ever trusted the blonde with the responsibility of senshi leader. Turning towards Ami for help, her anger dissipated when she noticed the girl rapidly typing away on her mini computer. "Ami-chan?"

"I'm sending a wave to Luna. I think we might need her help," Ami informed her, not lifting her head from her computer as her fingers flew over the tiny keyboard.

Rei nearly collapsed back in her seat, letting out a long sigh of relief. At least one person was on her side here. She really wanted to hug the girl.

"Kami-sama, you really are a genius."

**To be Continued…**

* * *

I really hate those last two lines. I don't know why, maybe cuz it's such an abrupt ending. Well, I needed to cut this somewhere. Right before all the heavy stuff (which, don't worry, will involve plenty of Mamo-angsting). Heh, no way I'm posting all the good stuff with such half-hazard editing. I really need more computer time! Sniff. 

**AN. (prepare for totally random rambling) **Have you guys heard of "**Prince of Tennis**"? All I know is that it's pretty popular and my friend loves Fuji so I figured it would fit my purpose.

I noticed I keep paralleling Usagi and Mamoru's actions a lot. I sort of intended to do it but I think I did it more times than I thought. Running into people, tuning out conversations, spraying milkshakes on Motoki… yep, they're made for each other.

I'll be honest. The "forget Mamoru" bit was something I just really wanted to throw in the mix. But I wouldn't have put it in the plotline if I didn't believe it fit or if I didn't find a way for it to enhance the story. That's how I usually come up with some of my better ideas, by tossing in random scenarios or going on odd tangents. Sooner or later I come up with something that just totally makes sense and becomes a huge plot-point for the story.

And, in case you PGSM fans might be wondering about it, I love the Motoki/Makoto pairing so I do let hints of it slip into this story. But don't expect anything. I don't plan on doing anything with it. At least not at this moment.


	4. Chapter 3b

**AN.**Soooo sorry for not updating in forever. Don't kill me, please? Holidays got in the way. I was at my parent's house forever. Anywho, you have no idea how painfully hard it was to finish this chapter. I had major writer's block and the last part hinged greatly on what would happen in the following chapters. So writing it was a delicate process. And I knew I promised more Mamoru (wait, did I?) so I really wanted to get that part right. Also, out of fear of more procrastination, I haven't exactly edited this yet. So it might drag a bit with "Oh, I forgot!", "Oh, me too!" and "Hey, but we remembered!".

Oooh, I got the "Serenity" DVD for Christmas so I'm thrilled. Best blooper reel ever. And I can't wait for "Pride and Prejudice" to come out on DVD. I know many Austen fans were annoyed with the ending but I loved it! Finally the characters stepped out of the book and acted like real people. And they were the right ages. I thought the Colin Firth version was only ok. I prefer the 1980 mini. Yeah, ok, on with the story:

* * *

Memory 

by moonangel

Chapter 3b

* * *

"I feel stupid," Ami moaned, shaking her head in shame. She glanced around the table she and her friends had gathered around in Rei's room. Makoto gave her a Makoto nod of agreement and Rei offered a comforting smile while an overly chipper Minako just grinned madly. 

"Don't worry. I feel that way all the time," Minako said, consolingly placing her arm around her friend and giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze. It wasn't like the genius should feel like an idiot anyways. After figuring out their problem, Ami had been the one to find a surprisingly easy solution. They'd just grabbed Luna and with minimal explanation, had her zap everyone's brains and voila, instant memories. Good kitty. Minako patted Luna's head affectionately. Luna grumbled in annoyance about not-so-gentle hands but she continued to let the blond pet her. Artemis, who had to be literally dragged into the meeting in the middle of a cat nap, just rolled over and snored. Despite her original misgivings about caring for two cats, Minako had found that taking Luna had made her life easier. Now she actually had a useful companion to keep her company every day.

On the way to the temple, Ami had speculated that it could be possible to restore Usagi's memories in the same way. They had ruled it out for now, since they were letting Usagi live her life the way she wanted. Anyways, Minako's intuition told her that it wouldn't be so easy. It was doubtful that Luna could have any effect on Usagi's memories if it truly had been Usagi's wish to forget. Princess, and could-be future ruler of the universe, trumped imperial furball.

Makoto shook her head in disbelief. "How could we forget something like this? A person like this? I even remember my favorite color, sports teams and recipes. So how the hell did I forget the frigging prince of Earth?"

Luna frowned in agreement. "This is a highly suspicious development," she added in gravely. "If only one of you had forgotten I might have attributed it to something trauma or temporary memory loss. But for both of you to forget! That's just absurd. Though, oddly enough, I have noticed that Rei and Minako seem to be more informed on the latest developments. With Rei it's understandable. But Minako…"

Minako gave her a less than gentle pat on the head, earning a loud squawk from Luna.

"Yeah, what's so special about those two?" Makoto asked smirking. Minako leaned across the table to try to whack her too but fell over when Makoto dodged her.

As she helped the blonde sit up, Ami speculated, "It does seem unusual that the two of them remembered Mamoru-san so easily. I'm mystified that we could forget an entire person that was so integral to our past lives. But let us not forget that Luna and Artemis also remembered him. In fact, of the four, Minako-chan was the only one who didn't know that Usagi-chan had lost her memories. So the key to this mystery may lie in that. Minako-chan, how did you remember?"

"I just did," Minako replied with an indifferent shrug.

Rei rolled her eyes. Just when they needed her to be serious the girl just had to play dumb. Sure she could be a good leader when she actually tried, and occasionally her intuition tended to... wait a second.

"Minna, isn't it odd that the two psychics in the group are the only one who remembered him?"

"Yeah, Minako's a real psychic," Makoto snorted before dodging another failed attack from Minako.

Rei stared speculatively at Minako.

"No. Not quite psychic in the way that I am. But she is attuned to people, especially when it involves matters of the heart. And, interestingly enough, she felt when he regained his memories. If she hadn't, I wouldn't be surprised if she would have failed to remember him too. I think something was trying to block us from remembering him. The four of us who did remember were only able to because we're either psychic or, er, feline and, uh special?" she finished lamely, earning an insultedglance from Luna.

Ami slowly nodded her head in agreement. "That almost makes sense. Do you think Usagi did this? She's the only logical suspect since she is the reason for our rebirths. But that raises the question of why would she want us to forget him."

Minako stood up resolutely, nearly knocking over the table. "Exactly! That's why we need to see her. Because at this point, all we're getting is more questions than answers. Girls, I think we need to do some research."

Ami cringed.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be my kind of research?"

Minako snorted, "Because it'll be fun."

---------

Rei stared at the door in front of her pensively. She was starting to wonder if Aino Minako was really the best choice for senshi leader. Maybe that was just her biased opinion getting in the way. After all, Rei knew that she was the best candidate for this particular assignment considering how she was the only one who had ever held an actual conversation with him. But she was dreading it. Who knew what she would encounter on the other side of the door? Certainly not a cheerful, bubbly blonde. Hino Rei was not exactly an expert in personal relations and even she was self-aware enough to realize that sending the team hothead to deal with heartbroken coed wasn't the brightest idea. Oh well. Sensitivity was overrated anyways. Worse comes to worst she could just slap him out of his misery. With more confidence, she resolutely knocked on the door.

Tapping her foot impatiently, she waited until the owner of the apartment reluctantly poked his head out. He stared at her.

"It's you," he stated bluntly.

Rei was certain that inwardly he was surprised. But his blank expression gave nothing away, as usual. Eyeing his slightly disheveled appearance, she was slightly impressed to see that he looked more or less put together in a simple white shirt and jeans. Of course, for a guy like him, any hint of haggardness was a bad sign.

"Chiba Mamoru. Good to see you too," she replied, undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm. They were always like this with each other. Neither cared much for formalities and façades so neither bothered with them in each other's company. It was oddly comforting in a way. Not the healthiest relationship but that was probably why both of them needed someone like Usagi in their lives. Anyways, the last time they had met he had tried to kill her. Lucky for him, she was a very forgiving person. It would be immature to hold a grudge over something that he had no control over.

Besides, she could get him for that later.

"Rei. So you remember me," Mamoru said wryly, leaning against the door frame. He made no attempt to let her in. Jerk. He added, muttering, "It's nice to see that someone does."

"Gee, aren't you cheeful today?" Rei commented dryly, tapping her fingers on her folded arms. "And of course I remember. We all do. How can we forget, considering our last few encounters with you?"

Okay, slight lie. Well, half of them had remembered him. That should count for something. Hm, it would probably be best to steer the subject away from the unpleasantness of the past. "Minako told me that you ran into her already."

"Yeah. At the arcade. Can you tell her sorry for me? I should have stopped to talk to her," he said absentmindedly.

"But you had other problems to deal with?"

He didn't meet her eyes.

"Yeah."

"How are you holding up?" Rei asked gently. Maybe they had never become very close in either of their past lives but despite that, she liked to believe that both considered the other to be a good friend. Before the battle with Beryl had heated up they had established a tentative friendship that she valued as much as she did her relationship with the other girls. She knew he was the type to suffer alone and it worried her more than she cared to admit. For his sake, she hoped the other senshi would warm up to him in time. Especially with Usagi absent from his life.

He eyed her guardedly then sighed, "Well enough... considering the circumstances."

"Wow, how poetically tragic, huh? You two beat the bad guy and then get deprived of your happy ending," Rei mused.

"Please tell me you're not mocking me."

"I'm not... Well, mostly not anyways."

"Probably as much as I can hope for from you," Mamoru replied, not unkindly. "So, is there an actual reason for your visit?"

Rei took a deep breath. Tact would never be her strong point. And he was a big boy. He could take it. So why bother dancing around the subject?

"Why did she forget you?"

Mamoru didn't move. At all. In fact he seemed to freeze at her words. Only his eyes flickered with some unknown emotion. Rei could only assume that it was something akin to pain.

"You don't pull your punches, do you?" he muttered.

"Should I?"

He shrugged. "Why did you think I'd know?"

"Okay, so that's a no. Honestly, I didn't really think you would know. I just had to ask. We probably don't have any of the answers you're looking for and, from the looks of it, you're probably going to tell me the same thing. I told Minako as much but nooo, she insisted that I had to grill you. That little prick."

"What are you girls planning to do?" Mamoru asked softly, ignoring her random ranting.

Rei suddenly felt slightly nervous. It was annoying that this man could make her this uncomfortable. This guilty. She knew how he'd react to what she was going to say but she couldn't back down. Looking him straight in the eye, she stated, "We think it's a good idea that she remember. Everything."

"And did your oh-so-brilliant leader come up with this genius plan?"

Rei gave him an annoyed glare. "Minako, along with the rest of us, has everyone's best interest in mind. Including yours, for some reason," she added with a growl.

"She doesn't want to remember. As her friend, you should respect her wishes," Mamoru chastised her harshly.

Rei bristled but she didn't let herself take it to heart. It couldn't hurt him to _not _try to alienate one of his few friends. But she knew that when Usagi was involved he tended to be less accommodating.

"You know that you're the one that wants her to remember more than anyone. Why are you making yourself suffer like this?" And why had she known that he would take this route?

"She comes first."

Oh, right. That's why. Because he was an idiot.

"And you come last. If you even matter at all," she retorted.

They both knew it wasn't her opinion she was voicing. It was his. This irked her more than anything else.

"I tried to kill her."

His words were hardly above a soft whisper and she could hear the pain lacing his voice.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Is that it? Kami-sama, you're so thick. You think she cares about that? That wasn't you. She knows that. So stop torturing yourself over that."

"Rei…"

"Mamoru," Rei mimicked. Looking away, her voice softened. Slightly.

"That's not why she forgot you. And hey, Mr. Self-Involved, she forgot _us _too. Do I seem like I'm gonna waste time angsting over that?"

When he didn't reply she groaned in irritation.

"She _loves _you."

"Don't."

"You know it. Deep down. Whether you think you don't deserve it or you're afraid to believe it, either way, you're hiding from the truth. If it's not this it'll be something else that you're going to hide behind. Why are you so afraid of happiness?" she demanded, her sharp eyes penetrating straight through him as he glanced away.

"I'm not! If she had remembered then I... " he trailed off, uncertainly.

"You want her to be happy, right?"

"Of course!" His response was automatic.

"So if being with her makes her happy, will you do that?"

"Rei, you don't know that she woul-"

"And neither do you. It's her life. Her choice," she interrupted. He was silent for a moment and was about to speak when he froze.

Rei frowned, had she just heard something?

---------

Usagi stared bleakly at the gorgeous raven haired girl standing next to Chiba Mamoru just outside his doorway.

She really, really wanted to leave.

"Uh, gomen! I didn't mean to interrupt. Ignore me," she quickly blurted out, backing away quickly as she noticed him staring at her in shock.

Kami-sama, she really didn't need to see that, she thought as she hurried away.

"Wait! Usagi!"

She froze.

_'Usagi?'_

Turning around slowly, she stared at the young man chasing after her.

"You know my name?" she questioned softly.

He stopped in midstep in front of her. Nervously, he avoided her question, asking, "Why, um, why are you here? And how did you get here?"

Wow, she really did love his voice. How cute it was, seeing him so nervous. She blushed at her train of thought.

"I asked Motoki-san," she answered, just as nervously, staring at the floor very intently. "I'm sorry. It was probably pretty rude of me to kinda, well, stalk you like this. But I, um, needed to talk to you."

"Oh."

And then they were silent, both staring at their feet.

_'This is pathetic.' _Rei grumbled inwardly. As thrilled as she was to see Usagi, this non-conversation was just painful to watch.

"Well, I seem to be getting in the way here."

The two swiftly jumped apart, turning around to see Rei nonchalantly strutting towards them.

"Chiba-san, thank you for the advice," Rei said, bowing formally as she neared them. Mamoru arched an eyebrow at her but gave her a returning nod as she cast her glance towards Usagi. "I apologize for taking up so much of your time. I wish you had informed me that your girlfriend would be visiting. Then I would not have bothered you."

Usagi blushed an even brighter red, stuttering, "I'm not his, er, um..."

Rei winked at her, stiffling a laugh. She forced an airy giggle, causing Mamoru cast her a disturbed look, "Don't worry about it. I hadn't been aware that Chiba-san had a girlfriend but it's so obvious. You don't need to hide it."

Smirking, she waltzed past a stuttering Usagi and deadly silent Mamoru. He was going to kill her for this. True, it was painful mimicking Minako's ditzy demeanor, but it was worth it just to see his face.

As she recovered from her embarrassment, Usagi coughed awkwardly. Staring intently at the raven haired girl, Usagi somehow felt it was odd to hear her laugh so flightily. _'Yeah, that's my job,' _she thought. _'Not yours... It doesn't suit you...'_

"Ano, excuse me," Usagi called out hesitantly, "But do I know you?"

Beside her, Mamoru froze, a hint of something flashing in his eyes, and turned to stare at her. Turning right before she rounded the hall corner, Rei smiled. "No. But you should stop by the Crown Arcade sometime. I go there a lot."

Something clicked inside Usagi's head as the girl left her sight.

_'I go there a lot.'_

_'Yeah,'_ she thought._ 'Me__ too.'_

**To be Continued…**

* * *

Ok, so comment! Tell me if I'm redundant or if I misuse words (which is very common in my family for some reason) in Japanese or English. Just any bits of general constructive criticism helps.

**AN. **I was thinking that in the manga the senshi never (?) meet Chiba Mamoru in the first season. I don't think Rei or Minako even get a glimpse of him. They all only know Tuxedo Kamen. In the anime and live action version they all barely interact. So I like making Rei the only one with a connection to him. I like their relationship, as long as she's not chasing after him. Drooling over and hopelessly persuing an uninterested guy just doesn't suit the Rei I like to write.

On Usagi and Mamoru: I wanted Mamoru to seem a bit cold in this chapter, at least with Rei, so sorry if I threw that in your face. In all BSSM incarnations I've seen/read, first season Mamoru is a bit of a prick. But everyone likes to write him as a cocky jerk or a romantic (which, I admit, is more fun). So I wanted my Mamoru to be aloof and a bit, er, jerk-ish but not mean. He is still Mamoru.

It also made complete sense to me for her to already be in love with him. As Minako said in the last chapter, she retains all the growth she went through in the missing months of her life. So her feelings for him never went away, even if her memory did. Think "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". So yeah, sorry if you guys wanted him to romance her into falling. I'll try to work on the romance part at least. Actually, the hardest part about this last section was that I realized I was rushing the Usagi/Mamoru romance. I know more or less how this story will end and it might help to have more interactions between the two.

I feel that I really should have named this "The Wish" or something like that. But I still like this title. It fits the Usagi/Mamoru dynamic.


	5. Chapter 4

**AN. **Sorry this one took so long. The first scene was painfully hard to write. I kept putting it away and coming back to it. And I got a new job so I'm so busy these days. I just come home and collapse.

You guys have been so nice about reassuring me that my work doesn't suck. But don't worry about it if I whine. I'm just hyper critical of everything I do. But I always think I can't finish each chapter and somehow I've gotten this far. So I'm quite proud of this story. Er, though I just noticed that in ch 3a I kept omitting simple words like "a" and "the". Last time I finish a chapter past midnight. I noticed that I call every chapter a rough draft. But I never feel like I'm done tweaking them and if I edit I suddenly think everything sucks. So just assume every chapter is a rough draft

**Elianthos **- Thanks for the compliments! If you're a big P&P fan just know it's grittier than the other adaptations and they omitted a lot to fit it into 2 hours, which is understandable. But I loved it! **Moon-Daisuki** - Yeah, I hate it when Rei's villainized. She's one of my favorite anime characters. I love to use her as my "Cordelia", the one who always says what everyone's thinking but doesn't want to voice. **GoddessMoonLady** - Glad you liked "ditzy" Rei. I had so much fun with that scene. And **Mina **thanks for the review, it got me feeling guilty enough to finish this.

**PS. **Cool, among my readers are fans of Serenity, Jane Austen and Wicked:)

Ok, I noticed that it makes absolutely no sense for me to not just change 3b into 4. But I'd planned out chapter 3 so long ago that it just had to end with Mamoru and Usagi. I always wondered why some authors split chapters. So guess I know now.

* * *

Memory 

by moonangel

Chapter 4

* * *

Silence filled a nearly empty hallway on the tenth floor of the prestigious Ichinohashi Apartment complex. Usagi swore that, despite the absence of windows, she could hear birds chirping from the nearby park. The ding from the elevator around the hall corner made her nearly jump out of her skin. It was ironic, in a painful way, that despite the silence surrounding her, she felt like was going to explode. _'Okay, breathe. Breathing is good', _she reminded herself, looking everywhere but at the person standing right in front of her. Staring at her. Waiting for her to say something. 

Hm, nice carpet. Figures that he'd live in such a fancy building. Everything's so perfect here and oh, look, there's an ant.

Across from her, her companion shifted from one foot to the other and she new that he wasn't going to talk anytime soon. Repeatedly telling herself it was all up to her, she wracked her brains for something to say. Anything. Darnit, she'd talk about the weather if she had to just to break this unbearable silence! Unfortunately, whenever she dared to glance up at him she lost all nerve. Now she barely remembered why she was standing there facing the recent object of her affections. Well, she thought as she continued to admire the carpet's intricate design, she was using the term "facing" fairly loosely. Biting her lip, she peeking up at him through her lashes. Her eyes widened when she saw him silently studying her and she quickly looked back down, swearing that she almost caught a slight blush coloring his cheeks before her eyes left his face. Okay, bad idea. Why did he have to wear jeans today? Seriously, the casual look just made him look so ruffled and sweet and just too gorgeous and Kami-sama, wasn't she just about to say something? Right. Don't get distracted by the pretty face!

"Um, so I need answers," Usagi blurted out much too loudly, her nervous fingers fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Embarrassed, her eyes uncertainly darted up to meet his.

Mamoru looked up at her startled, his ocean blue eyes shining with confusion. It was an adorable look on his face. "What?"

"Oh! Oops. I, er, planned to say that but on the way here I was trying to think of a nice way to put it and I didn't find one so I just, um, maybe I should start over... So, how are you?" Usagi stuttered, inwardly reminding herself for the one millionth time not to admire his appearance.

His confusion didn't exactly dissipate with her explanation. Questioning eyes met hers and she quickly looked away.

"Uh, fine?" he answered. After another awkward silence passed between them he asked, "So then, uh, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she said quickly.

"Oh. That's good."

"Yeah..."

Silence.

"Um, so why did you need to talk to me?"

"Cuz I need answers," she responded with a hint of exasperation, pointing out the obvious. Didn't she already say that? And didn't Motoki say he was smart?

He frowned and looked like he was going to comment on that statement but he just sighed and gently prodded, "What answers?"

Oh. Right. Forgot to elaborate on that. "Um, like, do I know you? I know that I don't, obviously. But it's like I _do_ and it's all very confusing and nothing's making sense. I was fine the other day and now I'm not and I'm emotional and confused and I just don't know what's going on," she babbled. Pausing for a quick breath she continued, "Okay, that didn't make any sense at _all_ but-"

"No! No, it does," he answered quickly, a hesitant arm suddenly darting out. At first she almost thought he was reaching out to her but he suddenly froze, quickly stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Staring at him wide-eyed, she asked, "Really?"

Suddenly seeming to realize he had said something he shouldn't have, he winced. Looking like a deer caught in headlights, he replied, "No?"

"Huh?"

She watched mesmerized as he darted a nervous hand through his soft, feathery black hair. Wow, lucky hand. Seriously, how could anyone's hair look that soft and shiny? Making a mental note to ask him about his conditioner, she reminded herself to concentrate on their conversation. He sighed, beginning again. "I swear, I'm usually not like this. I'm really much, _much_ more articulate. It's just, you caught me at a bad time," he explained somewhat lamely, looking all cute and sheepish.

Usagi nodded dumbly in understanding, deciding that it didn't matter that she had no idea what "articulate" meant. As she tried to concentrate on his other words, something sparked in her mind, or more like some_one_, and she winced at the implications it brought forth. "That girl. I interrupted you two. Are you two close?"

Great, not only did her voice sound way too shaky, but she nearly squeaked out that last part. She shut her eyes tightly, fearing what his response would be.

"What, Rei? No! God no. Not at all. We're not even quite friends. I couldn't care less for - I mean, I'd never feel anything for, er - she's not my type. She's - she's kind of scary once you get to know her, actually. We were just talking about things," he said haltingly. "Nothing important, really."

Trying to hide her sigh of relief, she plodded on, "I see. That's- that's good... So, um, your place looks very nice."

He blinked. She hadn't even seen his door yet. "Er, thanks."

Blushing, she quickly corrected herself. "Well, I mean, your apartment building. 'Cuz, it looks so fancy and all... that... stuff... Um, are you busy right now?"

He shook his head. "No, actually I" - pausing to glance at his watch, he bit back a groan- "have to leave for work in eight minutes."

"Oh," she squeaked, immediately moving aside to let him pass, practically plastering herself to the hallway wall. "Um, sorry for taking up your time. Er, I can walk you out if you want."

Secretly cringing at how lame that sounded, she turned her nervously expectant gaze up to him.

Shaking his head, his soft hair falling over his eyes, he said sheepishly, "Actually, I have to go change and grab my keys."

"Oh," she said, embarrassed as she tried to casually peel herself away from the wall. Kami-sama, she sounded like a broken record. A really stupid, stuttery broken record. "Right. Of course! Um, then I'll let you go and I'll just, uh, go."

Smooth. Really.

Cursing her stupidity, she wondered if she could possibly sound any more moronic than she did at that moment. She really had to get out of his sight as soon as possible before she became even more of a bumbling mess. Yet somehow she couldn't seem to unglue her eyes from the ground. Nor could she manage to get her feet to move even though she was sure that he was impatiently waiting for her to leave. Finally noting her immobile state, with a slight nod he awkwardly turned around to head back to his apartment.

As soon as he turned around she whacked herself hard on her head, immediately regretting it when she had to clap her hands over her mouth to stifle her yelp of pain. Suddenly his footsteps stopped and she froze in her spot, her hand slowly falling from her mouth, mid-yelp stifling.

His back to her, he turned his head slightly in her direction before quickly looking away. He spoke in softly hesitant, gentle tones, "Please don't feel bad about any of this. I'm not bothered that you asked for my address. And I did not mind your visit. But... I wouldn't recommend coming here again. It's- probably best if you gave up trying to talk to me. I doubt that I have the answers you need."

Wide shimmering eyes followed Chiba Mamoru as he slowly let himself back into his apartment. But, if only for the sake of his own sanity, he didn't look back as he entered his cold apartment and collapsed against the door.

----------

_'Loser._

_'Moron._

_'Psycho._

_'Stalker._

_'Crazy person.'_

Great. Just great. Ruthlessly wiping her wet eyes, Usagi inwardly whined at how she was so pathetic that she was running out of insults to throw at her pathetic self. Curse her limited vocabulary.

Why was it such a beautiful day? It was just lovely, really. If one paid attention they could find all sorts of enjoyable sights on such a fresh morning. Those **stupid **birds were still chirping their little brains out and kids were running around crashing into each other with no regards for their own safety. Yep. Lovely day.

Yet Usagi was completely oblivious to her surroundings as she mindlessly wondered around Ichinohashi Park, thinking about him. Yes, Chiba Mamoru. That "him". She sniffled. Who else could she be thinking about? There really wasn't any other guy in her life. Well, except for Motoki, though he shouldn't be counted as a guy. He was more like a sexless friend. Plopping down on a nearby bench, Usagi frowned, rubbing at her eyes. Somehow she got the feeling she shouldn't say that to his face.

It was weird though. Didn't she have a crush on Motoki, like, last week? Didn't she always daydream about him? When all that had stopped, she really didn't know. But she just couldn't see him as a romantic prospect anymore. He was so goofy. He wasn't at all serious or smooth or gentle like- Oh shoot, she was thinking about him again. That "him". '_Baka Usagi. You've lost your mind.'_

Her head was spinning from a tear induced headache and her heart hurt. All because of him. But she understood completely why he had just politely kicked her out of his life.

_'I'm a stalker. I am so totally a stalker and I must really have freaked him out,' _she moaned to herself. _'No, wait. Not even a stalker. Even stalkers aren't dumb enough to actually _tell_a guy they're stalking him. I'm the saddest excuse for a stalker ever and that just makes me sound even more pathetic.'_

And how did he know her name? Had Motoki warned him about her? No, he wouldn't do that to her. Chances were that Motoki had tried to be nice and recommend her to Mamoru. Well, if he had it looked like it backfired.

Orange.

Wait. Orange?

Usagi blinked as suddenly all she could see was orange.

"You look troubled."

Usagi looked up, startled. A pretty blonde haired girl in a lovely yellow summer dress was perched on the shoulder of her bench, gazing down at her with a knowing look. She had the lightest bright blue eyes and a sweet, sunny face that seemed so familiar. Maybe she was an actress or something. Lowering her eyes to the girl's proffered hand, Usagi reached out and gratefully accepted the bright orange handkerchief she was offering. Sniffling her thanks, she wiped her eyes messily. She felt a tentative smile tug at the corners of her mouth as she gazed curiously up at the girl, her tears drying.

"Um, hi?" Usagi responded after she finished dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief, wondering why the girl had addressed her so informally. It was like she expected her to recognize her. She was smiling at her like they were old childhood friends, not strangers in a park.

"It's good to see you," the girl chirped, straightening up, her legs merrily swinging back and forth on the side of the bench. When Usagi offered to return the now damp orange cloth she shook her head adamantly, her clear blue eyes staring straight through an uncomfortable Usagi.

Usagi blinked. "Uh, it's good to see you, too."

Why did that not feel entirely untrue?

The girl gave her a big grin. "I know."

Um, right. Usagi smirked inwardly thinking, '_She would be so annoyed right now if she were here. I bet if she had a broom handy she'd-'_

Usagi paused. She? Who she? Where did that come from? For some reason an image of the beautiful raven haired girl at Chiba Mamoru's apartment flashed in her head. No, not that. Couldn't she go just two seconds without thinking of him? Of yesterday? Of the reason she'd cried herself to sleep at nine o'clock the night before and worried her poor parents to death. Still, that image beautiful girl's lavender eyes hung in her mind, taunting her with their untold secrets.

Eyeing her carefully, the mysterious blonde advised, "Don't rush them. They'll come eventually."

Shaken out of her stupor, Usagi stared up at her helplessly. Why did her brain suddenly hurt really, really badly? And why was the girl studying her so intently?

"Um, can I help you with something?" Usagi asked.

The girl enthusiastically shook her head. "No. You already did. I just needed to get a good reading on you. That's all. But I'm done now. It's too early to get to know you and I kind of have some errands to run and some people I need to talk to. So see you later, okay?"

Huh? Unable to think up a coherent response, Usagi just stared at her for a moment before reminding herself that it was her turn to speak. Nodding mechanically, Usagi echoed, "Okay."

The girl grinned again.

Clutching the used handkerchief, Usagi mutely watched as the girl tossed her a friendly wave before bouncing off towards the park exit. And all she could think was, _'Either I really am going crazy or the rest of the world is.'_

Yet somehow, for some odd reason she felt a little better.

----------

"Oh yeah. She's so gone on him. It's not even funny. She didn't even notice me when I walked up to her," Minako was saying confidently, noisily chewing on a french fry as she settled comfortably into an empty booth at the Crown Arcade. After a fitting in a quick shopping trip, getting a relaxing manicure and enduring a call from a slightly peeved Rei, she had hopped off to their previously scheduled senshi meeting discuss the results of her research.

Rei gingerly sat down next to her, setting down her milkshake to massage her temples, wondering if she should be expecting a migraine soon. "I can't believe you just went up to her and said all that junk. You probably gave her a bigger headache than you normally give me! Kami-sama, when you said you were going to do in depth 'research' on Usagi I was actually dumb enough to take you seriously."

Makoto nodded distractedly, as she sat herself across from them, holding an overflowing basket of fries. "Yeah, whatever happened to subtly? You really didn't hold anything back, did you?" she said, half in awe.

Ami, who hadn't even looked up when she sat down, peeked out from behind her mini computer to steal a fry. When she noticed the other girls turning her way to hear her response she quickly ducked back down, not wanting to get involved in the latest argument. She was currently analyzing the data on the huge explosion of power that Luna and Artemis had witnessed at the end of the final battle with Beryl. So far the energy readings weren't telling her anything and she was unsure what information Minako expected her to glean from it. It seemed that Rei and Minako were the only two who had completed their previously assigned missions. Makoto had been delegated to interrogate Motoki for information on Usagi and Mamoru. But the girls had been miffed to find him absent from the Crown Arcade in the last 24 hours. Ami had logically suggested that he had the day off but Minako and Rei had been mystified at the very prospect of him having a life outside the four walls of the tiny establishment. Makoto, on the other hand, had wondered if he had a date and almost seemed to be slightly depressed by that possibility. It was all quite puzzling.

Minako rolled her eyes in exaggerated annoyance.

"Come on girls. This is Usagi we're talking about. She totally didn't get a word I was saying. I just threw her off at least a little bit to get a good read on her emotional state without actually, you know, talking to her since you guys are being so whiny about giving her space. So if confusing the hell out of her gets the job done then I don't know what your problem is."

"Well viewing your approach strategically, I do believe that, er, ambushing Usagi was a surprisingly constructive, albeit unconventional, way to go about your agenda," Ami absentmindedly chipped in, finally, her fingers continuing their rapid typing.

Rei grinned.

"Ami, you want to dumb down your talk a little? Remember the company we're in," she reminded her friend.

"What? I did do that. It doesn't exactly take a genius to-" Ami cut herself off when Rei nodded her head towards a confused Minako.

Ami smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, I guess I'm still in research mode."

"We forgive you," Makoto said, stuffing a handful of fries in her mouth with enthusiasm. Turning to Minako she asked, "So, what do you figure? You think she's ready to remember for his sake?"

Minako grinned broadly, "Yeah, she was totally angsting over him but I think she cheered up a bit. That girl doesn't stay down long. And like I said, she's so crazy for the guy that she'd jump off a cliff for him."

"Hopefully she won't go that far," Rei said dryly, playing idly with her milkshake straw.

Ami coughed. "Could we please move on to discussing the results of Rei's encounter with Mamoru-san?"

Makoto chimed in, "Yeah, with Minako hogging the spotlight, Rei hasn't had a moment to divulge the juicy details on our favorite brooding flower boy."

"Yeah Rei, report on Mamoru," Minako agreed perkily, after sending Makoto a slightly peeved glance.

Calmly folding her arms in her lap, Rei gave her more mature friends a thankful glance before launching into her report.

"He's not very helpful at all. Totally broody. I didn't have the heart to inform him of our suspicions about her erasing him from our memories. It wouldn't do much to tell him, anyways. He appears to know even less than we do. I didn't get much out of him since it, er, devolved a bit into arguing. But I did get that he's adamant about keeping Usagi uninformed, like I predicted. As I told you all over the phone, Usagi interrupted us and I left them to talk. I had _hoped _the two had made some progress after I'd left but some _idiot_ I know failed to get any details on that from a certain Odango haired friend of ours. All we can assume from her run in with Minako is that it probably didn't go very well."

Minako mindlessly twirled a lock of blonde hair and huffed defensively, "But I didn't know about it until you called, like, five minutes after I talked to her!"

"Well I _did _call you this morning explaining everything in great detail but somehow, quite conveniently, you don't seem to remember any of that conversation! I swear, at the time you even reassured me that you were fully conscious!" Rei all but screeched. She raised her hand to stop Minako when she tried to retort. "Don't you start denying it. Ask Luna. She was there. She handed the damn phone to you!"

"Well obviously if I don't remember then I wasn't awake! What moron actually believes anything a sleeping person says?"

"I didn't know you were asleep you baka! How was I supposed to know when you were actually _talking _to me? You even sounded more as coherent as you usually do!"

"Hey, if I knew what that word meant I would be so pissed right now! Anyways, it was eight the morning! Who wakes up that early in the fricking morning during school break?"

"_Normal_ people, you baka. You could have gotten a lot more out of her if you had actually remembered what I told you. And hey, I was backing you up for being a psychic yesterday and you're saying I have to tell you these things now? I thought you could 'read' it from Usagi since you're such an expert."

"Well I'm not _that_ psychic. I can just tell when people are feeling down or when, like in your case, they're letting off enough sexual frustration to heat a household."

"Sexual _what?"_

As the conversation nearly devolved into hair pulling, Ami leaned over and whispered to Makoto, "I don't think we'll be able to make further progress on today's developments if this keeps up. It appears that Minako-chan is attempting to use distraction to divert Rei's attention from her previous, er, finger pointing."

Proudly taking note of the blue haired genius's efforts to dumb down her language, Makoto nodded in agreement, adding with a snicker, "Yeah. But looks like this'll lead to _another _type of finger pointing."

Ami stared blankly at her.

Shifting uncomfortably, the brunette said, "Because when she's mad she's more likely to, um, make more... obscene... gestu- oh never mind. Let's go get some ice cream."

Obliviously, the other two continued bickering while their friends slowly snuck out the exit.

----------

Chiba Mamoru was annoyed.

"Come on Mamoru! You don't look like you're having fun!"

"There's a reason for that Motoki."

"Stop being a baby. Is it that hard to have real, actual _fun_?" Motoki sniffed, emphasizing the last word. "You do know what fun is, don't you?"

"I think I've read about it in a book."

Motoki pointedly ignored his companion's sarcasm-laced comment and continued to drag him along. Okay, so maybe this wasn't the best idea he had ever come up with. But he had yet to discover a ­­foolproof way to cheer up his best friend when he was down which was, let's face it, ninety percent of the time. So he'd decided to take him to the one place in the world that had always brightened up his own spirits up when he wasn't feeling like his cheerful self.

"Look, I brought you here to relax and enjoy yourself. And if I say you should be having fun then damnit, you will whether you like it or not!"

"A fair, Motoki? You want to give an eighteen year old college student a good time and you bring him to a fair? With kids and ponies and, Kami-sama, what is _that_?"

"I think it's a... she," Motoki replied, tilting his head sideways in hopes of getting a better view of the object Mamoru was all but gawking at. Shaking his head to clear out disturbing thoughts, he turned back to his friend and put an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "Hey, this is the happiest place on earth. You should be spoiling yourself! Go, buy some cotton candy and you'll feel like a kid again."

After trying to subtly remove his friend's hand from intruding on his personal space, Mamoru raised a skeptical brow and gazed in the direction Motoki was enthusiastically pointing at. As he stared at the dubiously edible giant, pink clouds of floating cavity generators clinging to toilet paper rolls, he wondered why he ever agreed to let his friend drag him out. "'Happiest place on earth?' Don't you mean Disneyland?"

Motoki perked up. "You want to go to Disneyland?"

"_No._" Feeling his reply to be sufficiently emphatic, Mamoru turned around, hoping to get as far away from the wince-inducing candy stands as he could. Ignoring Motoki's frantic patter of footsteps behind him, his eyes landed on a group of giggling little kids cooing over the animals in a petting zoo. They looked so innocent and carefree that it was almost sickening. Dear lord, why were they touching those filthy creatures? Honestly, hadn't their parents taught them about the importance of cleanliness? As he fretted over this, his eyes fell on a small, pigtailed blonde who was giggling as a baby goat licked her face.

Motoki nearly ran into Mamoru when the big doof froze in his footsteps. Now why was he stopping? Honestly, these days he was so random and unpredictable. Honestly, if Mr. I'm-so-organized-I-kill-myselfwas finally deciding to be unpredictable couldn't he be unpredictably cheerful? He didn't have to be all hissy about everything. Motoki sidled up to him and curiously followed his gaze. Why was the guy staring so intently at all those animals? Was he imagining things or did Mamoru's eyes seem to have softened a bit? Maybe Mamoru had a soft spot for fuzzy things. Motoki rolled his eyes. Yeah right. He knew how Mamoru's brain worked. He was probably inwardly disgusted at how those kids were touching such filthy, germ-infested creatures. It was so obvious when Mamoru's eyes flickered with what surely was disgust when some bald sheep-like thing nuzzled a poor, tiny yellow-haired kid. Great. Only Mamoru would be worrying about hygiene when surrounded by cute animals.

Putting on his him his best guilt inducingpout, Motoki marched around Mamoru to stand face to face and noisily broke him from his trance. "Stop ignoring me! I put in all this effort, I even paid for your ticket and I can't believe you're not even trying here. You know, you're a pretty lousy date."

He squeaked and nearly leaped backwards when his comments earned him one of Mamoru's patented icy glares. For the umpteenth time that day, he found himself scurrying after Mamoru as the taller man began walking away. Damn that those long legs.

Without glancing back at the crazy moron following him, Mamoru replied, "I'm just going to ignore that comment. Look, I've just been having a weird week, okay? It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is! Look, no one broods better than you-"

"Thank you."

"- and I'm your best friend. So I'm used to it. And I swear, this is a new kind of brooding. Something's seriously wrong, isn't it?" Motoki asked, staring at his friend in concern as he finally matched his stride.

Mamoru stopped walking and looked him straight in the eye.

"Motoki..."

Hopeful, Motoki slowed his steps down and looked up at his friend with wide, eager eyes.

"If you want me to take you seriously, take that stupid turtle hat off of your head You look like a damn clown."

----------

Muttering about ungrateful best friends, Motoki sulked as he watched the pretty lights of the ferris wheel fade into the distance. After a bigargument about the supposed pointlessness of homemade stuffed animal headgear, Motoki had lost his case and an almost cheerful Mamoru was now dragging his reluctant friend away from the fairgrounds. Motoki would have been moping about it even more if it weren't for the fact that that was the happiest he had seen Mamoru look all day. It didn't last long, though. Somehow, after he was free from, as he dubbed it, "the most disturbing place on earth", his friend had reverted back to broody Mamoru. Heh, "broody Mamoru." That sounded almost redundant. It was horrible, though. He hadn't gotten anything out of the big jerk, not a heartfelt thank you or a tearful confession, not even a smile. Well, Mamoru had been nice enough to win him a stuffed Totoro, but that wasn't the purpose of this little expedition. Though it was cute, Motoki inwardly admitted, hugging the Totoro closer to him. He knew Mamoru wasn't taking him very seriously, especially after being dragged onto the merry-go-round, but Motoki was genuinely concerned about his friend.

Something was different about Mamoru these days and despite his keen observational skills, Motoki couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. These days it seemed that he was broodier than usual which was quite an impressive feat. He hadn't been showing up at the arcade recently and from what Motoki had heard from his coworkers and classmates, the guy was completely throwing himself into his work and studies. It was unhealthy. Sure this was Mamoru, Mr. Type A, but Motoki was starting to worry. To top things off, a friend of his at Mamoru's workplace had called him the night before telling him that Mamoru had done a complete one-eighty, showing up late for work - as true a sign of the apocalypse as any - and acting so completely out of it that his concerned boss had sent him home early. So Furuhata Motoki, being the true friend that he was, had decided to take action. Unfortunately, he hadn't made a single ounce of progress despite his great efforts. Clutching his Totoro and stuffed turtle hat tightly to his chest, Motoki worriedly glanced at his silent friend. Mamoru needed help and he had no idea how to give that to him.

So he decided to dive right in.

"Why are you avoiding the arcade?"

Mamoru looked up, startled. His eyes softened when he saw the genuine concern shining in his friend's eyes. Yay, the blunt approach worked. Motoki mentally patted himself on the back while he pasted on his most convincing caring friend face.

"Is it me? Did I do something wrong?" Motoki sniffed pitifully.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I've decided that we should see other people from now on," Mamoru deadpanned.

"Hey, that's not funny. I'm showing some serious concern here. There's something wrong with you and I know it. Geez, what is wrong with everyone these days? First Usagi-chan's acting kinda crazy and now you," he moaned in frustration, giving up on playing the sympathy card. He was so pathetic. Was he really so useless that he could only stand aside and watch while his closest friends were falling to pieces?

Mamoru halted in his steps. "U- Usagi-chan?"

Motoki rolled his eyes in frustration, walking past him. "I know what you're thinking and no, I didn't buy a pet bunny. I told you Kamekichi is the only one for me. I meant that cute blonde girl at the arcade with the two buns on her head. The one that you totally ignored the other day, by the way. Really Mamoru, that was so rude of you. I know you're going through stuff but you could at least try to be considerate of the people around you. And hey, I think she's even got a little crush on you! It's not like you don't have your share of admirers but the least you could do is pretend to be nic- Gah!"

He gasped and stopped mid-step as he was suddenly met with Mamoru's cold gaze. How did that guy get in front of him so fast? Mamoru's face was expressionless but there was something about the sharp gleaming in his eyes that told him that he'd better explain. Oddly enough, that glint didn't seem to contain any anger or menace. It was clear that the wheels were turning in Mamoru's head but Motoki had no clue what he was thinking. Somehow that just made him seem even scarier.

Shifting uncomfortably, Motoki squirmed. "Um, maybe I shouldn't have said that. But-" he quickly added when Mamoru's eyes glinted at him menacingly"- I know her pretty well. She's one of my regulars. And the other day she practically freaked out on me after you left, asking for your stats and address and everything. Look, I know how annoyed you get with all these girls fawning over you. But she's such a sweet girl. You really should give her a break."

Mamoru's penetrating gaze slowly relaxed and his eyes seemed to fall on some unknown spot past his head.

"I knew that she was remembering but... I had no idea that she could possibly..." he murmured to himself in disbelief, an uncharacteristic look of uncertainty clouding his eyes. Uncertainty and... what? Motoki gazed at him curiously as he seemed to be working something out in his head. Coming to some kind of decision, Mamoru looked up at Motoki with something that almost appeared to resemble a smile.

"Thanks. This was very... well, your heart's always in the right place. I appreciate that. But I have to go work on something. So I'll see you around."

Motoki blinked as his friend suddenly ditched him. Well, that was abrupt. Although, considering who he was dealing with, Motoki knew that that was as gracious a thank you as he could ever receive.

Standing alone with only the company of his two furry friends in his hands, Motoki's puzzled gaze followed his retreating friend until he had left his line of vision. Was it just him, or had Mamoru actually looked happier? Oh sure he had seemed totally distracted and his expression was fairly blank. But after years of knowing this guy, Motoki was pretty sure there was suddenly something different about him.

He smiled.

Wow, so maybe the fair really did help after all.

**To be Continued…**

**

* * *

**

**AN. **By the way, in case you didn't know this, "Usagi" means "rabbit" in Japanese and her full name, "Tsukino Usagi" translates to "Rabbit of the Moon".

Great, I'm finishing this chapter at 2 am. Tomorrow I'll read it and it'll be incoherent. And wow, it took me _forever _ this chapter's first scene. Did it feel too long? I wanted it to be awkward but readable. If you guys were okay with it then I might feel better about posting the painfully long the last chapter to "Tomorrow". You know, I recently read a Minako scene in an Alicia Blade story that was similar to this chapter's Usagi run-in and it was almost embarrassing how much better hers was. Well, she is the queen of waffy/taffy fanfiction. Um, don't kill me, but this chapter was already halfway done when I was finishing up Chapter 3. Don't expect the next one to come out too soon cuz things are winding down (at least in the chapter I'm working on) and the last bits are pretty crucial. I'm currently working on the next two chapters. The next has one scene that I just can't seem to get right.

I know, I know, the turtle hat was too much. But I just couldn't help throwing it in. You've got to see the PGSM episode where Motoki dresses up as a turtle. The look on Mamoru's face is just priceless. But Motoki makes his own hilarious expression later on in that scene. It's just too great.

This chapter originally had a completely different ending before but I felt like it was too much too soon so I moved a few scenes to future chapters. I'm so unorganized. Motoki wasn't even supposed to be in this chapter but I just added those last two scenes almost on a whim. And I know I got carried away with them but I feel like there's enough plot development there.

I love showing Usagi getting hints of memories. And since I'm totally biased towards Rei and love the anime's focus on their friendship I did notice that I am giving Rei too much of a spotlight in her memories. Oh well...


	6. Chapter 5a

**AN: **Wow. It reaaally took me forever updating this. Please don't kill me for my absence. I've had crazy computer problems (it crashed on me three times today alone) where I kept losing all my writings (sniff) that made me give up for a while and waaay too much work and okay, I'll stop with the lame excuses. Again, this is a half chapter since I felt horrible about getting nothing out and the last half'll take me a while. It needs a bit more editing and fleshing out, as usual. So please tell me if I need to fix anything! Especially since for my computer's suddenly rejecting Microsoft Word, my favorite editor. So please tell me even if it's just a misplaced comma or odd word usage (I tend to butcher words and sayings, like "hey, don't kick a gift horse in the mouth!"). I may edit this when it's _not _3am in the morning, when my brain's actually working.

**Notes: **Ok, just to pre-brief you guys so you're not confused when I bring this up: Fushugi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden is the continuation of a popular adventure/fantasy/romance manga. I'm sure most of you have heard of the original Fushigi Yuugi series, but if not, here's a summary - Each series has an average schoolgirl brought into Ancient China to unite the seven "Seishi" (super-powered warriors) that will help save the land. Okay, a bit vague. But they're good reads. If you want further explanations just ask me or wiki it.

Thank you guys for all the great reviews! Almost every time I read one I feel guilty enough to write just a little more. To address some of you reviewers (some of whom may have given up on me but heh, sorry?), **BloomAmber**, I really should thank you because your review made me feel guilty enough to finish this. And Motoki is dressed as a turtle in Act 25. I was so grateful to you that I actually looked that up. And **Skye0906**, thank you for such a sweet review! And **elianthos**, you've probably _bought _P+P by now but it's great to hear that you liked it!

Hey, did you guys see the live action version of "Hana Yori Dango"? The second series/season is out so I'm excited. For movies, "Children of Men" was worth watching but doesn't answer as many questions as I'd have liked. Um, yeah, anywho... Some of you Makoto fans might like this chapter. For some reason I have a hard time writing her but I needed to focus on her character a bit for this chapter. I'm not a huge fan of her anime boy-craziness so she might be more PGSM-Mako than you're expecting. Oookay, on with the story...

* * *

"Why won't you show me your face?" 

"It's not my choice. None of this is."

Staring into the darkness surrounding her, Usagi clutched her translucent robe tighter around her body, vaguely wondering who on earth was responsible for dressing her in this dream. She was shivering, but not as much from the cold as from the sobering atmosphere that nearly suffocated her. There was some intangible, indescribable in the air that felt almost like lonelines. But even Usagi knew that she was not a person who should know what that felt like. Yet it was starting to feel familiar.

The endless barren landscape lain out before her saddened her somehow. It was like a ghost of something wonderful, unattainable. Something long dead... something... nostalgic. It seemed the long figure standing before her wa right at home there, like it was the only place he would ever belong.

"This is your world, isn't it?"

Hollow laughter answered her question. "No, actually. It was yours. This is, all of this," he explained with a broad gesture, "is your past... this is where you left me behind."

Puzzled, Usagi pulled her silver night gown closer to her in a futile effort to comfort her frazzled nerves and asked softly, "What do you mean?"

Turning, her companion pinned her with a saddened gaze. It was hard to see past the mist surrounding her, but she didn't need to see him clearly to know what he was feeling. She could feel the pain that his dark blue eyes carried.

Those eyes... so familiar...

"You chose this. _You_. I never wanted this. You say I do but I don't. Why did you do it?" His words sounded almost accusing but his velvet soft voice held no menace. This man, he just wanted answers. Answers that she would have been more than willing to give him if she just knew what the question was.

_'Do what?' _she wanted to ask. But her lips moved of their own accord, "It's better this way."

Was it?

"Stop being so stubborn," he chastised with an almost painful smile. Gazing down at the peaceful planet so far away from them, his planet, he whispered, "You're running from it. It's coming to catch up to you but you're in denial. Don't you understand? It's already starting to crumble and I don't think you can handle it. I want to help you but I can't. You won't let me."

"What is? What's starting to crumble."

He was silent for a moment and when he did speak it was so soft it felt like the wind was whispering to her.

"I will see you soon, Serenity."

Usagi gasped, her eyes flying open. She grasped her chest as she tried desperately to regain her breath. The moonlight that shone down on her was too bright for her eyes to handle. She looked away. Slowly, she sat up in her bed, clutching her sheets closer to her, only one thought in her head.

_'It happened again. The same dream.'_

* * *

Memory 

by moonangel

Chapter 5

* * *

Kino Makoto looked up from her book as a shiny, blue bouncy ball rolled to a stop at her feet. Bending over, she picked it up before standing to full height of 169 centimeters. As she tossed the ball between her hands, her curious eyes searched the park for an explanation. Two children no taller than half her height,and probably half her age, ran up to her. They stopped practically five meters away from the bench she had just vacated. The taller one, a cute girl in pigtails, spoke first. 

"Um, can- can we have our ball back?" she pleaded hesitantly. After a moment she whimpered, "Please?"

Her companion, a tiny bespeckled redhead hid behind her, staring up at Makoto with wide, unblinking eyes.

With a casual shrug, Makoto gave them a slight smile before tossing them the ball, saying, "Sure. Here."

She winced as Miss Pigtails nearly stumbled back as the ball hit her chest with more force than intended. The two quickly backed away, calling out their thanks when they were far enough away. With an unreadable expression, Makoto silently watched them until they were out of sight. With a sigh, she returned to her reading.

"Sugoi!"

Huh?

"Is that the newest Fushugi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden? Kami-sama, I've been waiting for it for ages! Did it just come out?"

Eyes wide, Makoto slowly turned around to see the owner of the loud voice that had just interrupted her thoughts. Her suspicions were confirmed. Peeking over her shoulder was none other than Tsukino Usagi, self-proclaimed number one manga otaku of Tokyo. Strangley, her face was hidden behind her hands. But she didn't seem to be doing a good job covering hiding it since Makoto could clearly see sky blue eyes peeking through the spread fingers. It was an amusing sight to see, the great heroine of Tokyo leaning, and centimeters from falling, over a bench like an eager child who had just discovered chocolate.

Her partially covered eyes glued to the page Makoto was on, Usagi babbled enthusiastically, "Wow, I've been so down lately, this is like, the best news ever! How far into are you? Did they find the next Seishi yet? And wait, what's Rimudo doing on this page? Gah! Don't tell me anything! I can't look! "

Okay, that didn't make much sense. Watching bemusedly as the blonde backed away while fully covering her eyes with one hand, Makoto slowly folded the book into her lap. Chuckling, she said, "It's okay. You can look now. I've closed the book."

One bright blue eye appeared behind Usagi's fingers. "You did?"

"I did."

Usagi immediately plopped down next to Makoto on the bench, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

"Okay good. I was this close to totally spoiling my future reading enjoyment of the best series ever," she breathed out. Finally taking a good look at her new companion she gasped. "Hey, you're tall."

"Yes. I'm quite aware of that," Makoto said ruefully, turning to look at her. The blond just nodded, cheerfully smiling up at her.

"So," Makoto drawled out with a smirk as she casually pulled out a water bottle from her satchel. "I take it you like Fushigi Yuugi?"

"Yeah. I read the original series but I didn't really like Miaka. She was always complaining and tripping over things and she was constantly eating everything in sight! So I prefer the new series with Takiko. She's so much cooler."

Makoto paused mid-sip and nearly choked into her drink. She slowly lowered the bottle, realizing that trying to take a sip of water while talking to Usagi was probably never a good idea. "You- you don't like Miaka?" she asked. After receiving an adamant head shake, she continued with careful wording, "Because she's whiny, clumsy and liked to pig out?"

Nodding emphatically, her pigtails flying every which way, Usagi enthused, "Yeah. I was rooting for her and Tamahome and all but really, what kind of hero is that? Heck, I'm like that. Putting a girl like that in charge of saving your kingdom is completely illogical."

Makoto grinned and nodded along with her, though she secretly disagreed with her. Well, at least her old friend wasn't that oblivious. "Well, true. But I kind of liked Miaka. She had her annoying moments but she was undyingly loyal. Even to her best friend Yui who betrayed her in every way possible. It didn't seem very logical in a way but I really respected that. So I can't help but have a soft spot for her."

Snorting loudly, Usagi grumbled, "Hey, if my best friend treated me that badly I'd be pretty annoyed with her. I would so totally give her a good whacking before forgiving her if she pissed me off badly enough!"

It was hard picturing the frail girl beside her whaling on a person. Reflecting on Usagi's odd relationship with Rei, Makoto stifled a laugh. Okay, maybe it wasn't _that_ hard to picture. "Yeah, maybe. But you'd forgive her eventually, right?"

Usagi stared at her blankly. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I? It's got to be written in the best friend guide book or something."

Smiling, Makoto said," Yeah. Probably. So you prefer Takiko?"

"Yep! She's proactive. And she beats people up. No one has to protect her, even if they want to. I wish I was like that."

Makoto laughed. "I'm sure you'd make a great hero."

Usagi blushed. "Nah. You'd probably be better. Actually, I'm sure of it," she said, thoughtfully adding, "I don't know why but I feel like I know you. This sounds weird but that's been happening a lot to me lately. Maybe you just remind me of Takiko."

So Minako was right. Inwardly, Makoto felt her heart flutter. Usagi was remembering. As she processed that last line, her lips formed into a wry smirk.

"Because I look like I can beat someone up?" she asked wryly.

"Because you're motherly," Usagi replied simply.

Noticing a flicker of surprise inMakoto's emerald eyes, Usagi continued, flustered, "Because Takiko takes care of people. She's always worrying about them and putting herself last. You just seem to have the same aura. Maybe I worded it funny 'cuz it's not like you _look _like a mother. You just seem like someone who's loyal, who protects people..."

Her voice trailed off. Usagi's eyes fell to her lap and she shifted in her seat uncomfortably, worried that she had just offended the girl.

"Of course, I could be totally wrong and just imagining things since I do seem to be, like, thirty percent crazier these days and you know I'm way better at math than I am at reading people which is pretty bad 'cuz wow, you should see my math scores so-" the blonde babbled.

"Kino Makoto."

The words dying in her throat,Usagi stared curiously at the hand that was suddenly thrust in her face. Then suddenly she smiled, her eyes lifting to greet a grinning brunette.

"Tsukino Usagi," she replied, shaking her new friend's hand.

----------

As she cheerfully stepped through the threshold of the brightly lit arcade, Makoto cocked her head to the side and grinned as she heard a resounding crack. Proceeding to crack her knuckles, more out of habit than out of need, she jauntily made her way past a handful of giggling preteens towards the counter. To her left, she noticed a diminuative ten year old staring up at her in awe when she finished with her last knuckle. After tossing the boy a smirk, Makoto winced when she noticed his neglected Tuxedo Kamen getting K.O'ed by an aggressive Sailor Mars in the latest Sailormoon battle game. It was strangly fitting.

Ahead of her, after glancing up from his diligent counter polishing, a bright smile lit Motoki's face when he saw who had entered the arcade.

"Mako-chan! It's so great to-"

"Finally! Motoki! I was wondering where you were yesterday," Makoto growled out, marching straight up to him, leaning over the counter to point an accusing finger just inches from his nose. "We were worried that something had happened to you, you dolt!"

Slowly uncrossing his eyes as she lowered her arm, Motoki set down his rag and sheepishly answered, "Oh, I took the day off to hang out at the local fair."

Makoto stared blankly at him.

"You... took the day off?" she repeated slowly, uncomprehendingly.

Oblivious to her outright gawking, Motoki sighed, shaking his head in remembrance. "Yeah, my boss is pretty easygoing with stuff like that and it was really important 'cuz I needed to help out a friend. He's got issues."

"Wow, we thought you never spent time outside the arcade," Makoto mused to herself, oblivious to whatever he seemed to be babbling about.

Miffed, Motoki scoffed, "Hey, I have a life you know! And I do have classes to attend."

Makoto barely seemed to notice his defensive tone. Shaking her head as she lowered herself onto the nearest stool, she muttered, "Weird."

He flushed. "Really! I hang out. And do stuff. My life's not all about arcades and turtles. I swear!"

"Turtles?"

"Er, pretend you didn't hear that. So uh, what can I do you for?"

Crossing her khaki clad legs, Makoto lifted a quizzical brow. "'Do me for?'" _Wasn't that a Western term?_

Blushing even redder, Motoki coughed loudly, averting his eyes and quickly corrected, "I didn't say '_do you_'. Geez you're so silly! I meant, um, can- can I h-help you?"

Giggling as she watched the sandy blonde haired boy stutter, Makoto wondered if she'd ever seen a guy blush before. Or if she'd ever actually _giggled_ before. Trying to school her grinning mouth into a serious frown, she decided to get down to business. "Yeah. You know Usagi and Mamoru-san, right?"

Grateful for the change of subject he nodded furiously.

"Yeah. Mmhm. Good friends. Great. Love 'em," he supplied, almost violently enthusiastic. "But I didn't know that you did. Are you friends with them, too?"

"Well, I'm... acquainted with them. And I wanted to ask you if either of the two been acting a little weird lately," she asked, wincing at how lamely vague that sounded. Still, Motoki seemed to pause for a second to ponder over her statement. Makoto eyed him warily. Minako had insisted that he'd be a good source for information on Usagi and Mamoru, considering that he was the one person in Tokyo who was most likely to interact with both of them. But she doubted that she'd get anything useful out of boy. It so was hard interrogating someone without the use of force. Makoto didn't get why Minako had been so adamantly against doing things the easy way. She was clueless about how to go about extracting information without being allowed to tie her victim to a chair, slap him around a bit or dip his head in a toilet. How could you get anything out of anyone by just... _talking_? This was just plain depressing. The other girls had gotten all the juicy assignments but for some reason Minako insisted that Makoto, and only Makoto, just _had _to talk to Motoki even if he turned out to be completely useless. When Makoto had pleaded to switch with Rei and let her handle Motoki, Minako had just wrinkled her nose and said something like, "they'd be so weird together". That girl was so random sometimes. So, inwardly grumbling about airheaded blondes, Makoto had started hanging around the arcade again, resovled to do her senshi duty. Besides, it couldn't hurt to spend an afternoon with a cute college freshman. Even if he was a little bit odd in the head.

While she mused over her plight, she watched as Motoki scrubbed the countertop deep in thought. Random amusing, and occasionally unflattering, expressions crossed his face and it was clear that he was unaccustomed to deep thought. Or just thinking in general. Makoto felt her lips twitch. He was so amusing to watch. He looked like a little boy the way his nose scrunched up when he frowned and his sandy brown hair kept falling over his eyes.

Makoto blinked when those bright green eyes widened and it seemed Motoki had finally to come to some sort of conclusion.

"Hey! You're right! Both of them have been so weird recently. Usagi's usually kind of weird so I didn't really think anything of it. But ever since the day of the big storm they've both been just plain odd. And that's pretty bad, coming from me. You think it has something to do with that?" he exclaimed excitedly. Laughing, he added, "Heh, maybe we were invaded by evil, little green Martians and they were replaced them with robot lookalikes."

Suddenly Makoto was starting to see why Minako had insisted that Rei would be a bad choice for dealing with Motoki. "Er, right. _Or_ maybe they might be having romantic troubles."

"Ha! Mamoru having romantic troubles? Never in a gazillion years. He could get any girl that he wants. Although he's never tried. It's so weird. He's already eighteen and I doubt he's even held a girl's hand before. And he seriously gives me the scariest looks whenever I suggest that he might be gay. So I'm actually starting to believe him about his straightness. But the guy's _always _refusing girls. He's got to go for one of them eventually, right? I bet she'd have to fall in his lap though because I don't think he'd ever actually pursue a girl. That'd just be plain un-Mamoru-like. I mean, if he ever was interested in one..."

Makoto stared at him expectantly, unconsciously leaning forward on the counter.

"... then he wouldn't know what the hell to do with her, would he?" Motoki continued, his eyes widening yet again. "Hey, you don't think that's what's been bothering him recently, do you?"

She nodded encouragingly.

Motoki's brows furrowed in what looked like concentration. "You think he's... afraid?"

Tilting her head in thought, Makoto found that his comment seemed to make a great deal of sense.

"Well, wouldn't you be? He doesn't have the greatest history of, well, being happy," she snorted, realization dawning in her eyes. Hey, maybe he was pretty helpful.

Eagerly, Motoki nodded his head. "I didn't notice at all! I mean I was so freaked out about the world ending and then I needed to feed Kamekichi and- and..."

Kamekichi? Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to ask. This boy really did live in a world of his own and Makoto was too happy with the progress she had just made to care. So she just laughed. "Motoki, you need to get out more."

Motoki flushed and gave her a sheepish look. "Yeah, maybe I do. Want to come with me?"

"Eh?"

----------

In the darkness of his apartment Mamoru sat on his rumpled bed, silently staring blankly down at his hands. A sea of emotions swam through him, his mind lost in confusion, yet he could do nothing but stare.

He closed his aching eyes.

_'Usagi.'_

Soft music filled his ears.

_'Do you want to remember me? Has your heart not forgotten even if your mind has?'_

His fists clenched. Was it too much to hope?

Of course. It was her wish. His mind fell back to that moment, barely days ago, when he had woken up in a hospital bed with the pressing need for answers.

He looked down at the glowing object in his palm.

Yes, he had found his answers. The poor little orphan boy had woken up yet again to find that he'd lost his past, that his happiness had been stripped from him yet again. But this time he couldn't blame fate.

Then was he blaming her? Could he be so childish? No. He could never. She had wanted a new life. More than anyone on earth, she deserved to that. So he'd told himself he would stay away. He would grant her that wish and protect it fiercely if he had to.

And now... now he was starting to wonder if maybe things didn't have to be this way. Maybe she was remembering or...

_'Maybe no matter what, despite the past, despite what we've been through, the pressure, the drama... maybe without all that, despite all that she loves me...'_

_'We were thrown together. One minute we were arguing like children and the next we were destined lovers. We never had time to process it, to deal with it together. When I remembered it all I just assumed that maybe she didn't want that. But if she's falling for me again, if she really does feel something now, without her memories then maybe there's a chance...'_

_'A new chance...'_

Memories swam through his mind of the relationship she had given up.

He remembered her anger...

_"Itai! Mamoru-baka, stop getting in my way!"_

Her annoyance...

_"Motoki-onii-san, your friends with this jerk?"_

Her tears.

_"Why do you hate me?"_

Maybe it was better that she had forgotten. Maybe it was a blessing. A new chance. They could start over. What if that had been what she had truly wanted.

His tired heart fluttered, despite the many doubts that plagued his conflicted mind.

Was he hoping for too much? Was it all in his head? And could he really trust Motoki's judgement? He believed his friend had a good head on his shoulders but he had to question just how observant the guy was. Maybe he had just been imagining things. Or maybe, Mamoru thought grimly, he had read her wrong and she really had a crush on Motoki, just like she used to. The main question he really needed to ask was, what should he do now?

As the confused young man stared off into space, the soft melody of the star-shaped locket continued to echo through the barren apartment.

**To be Continued…**

* * *

**Lillie Bell -** I was reading over my old reviews when writing this and I read yours mentioning the locket right when I was trying to figure out how to write the Mamoru angsting scene. Thanks for the unintentional inspiration. And for the nice review!

**AN. **I know, little progress has been made. I'm building it up and I keep pushing back the pivotal scenes because it doesn't quite feel ready for it. But I promise I'll try to work on this story more this year but work's kind of taken over my life so I'm slowly trying to get my "me" time back.

I loved writing the Usagi/Makoto encounter. It was greatly influenced by the R movie where Makoto's remembering not being accepted because people were scared of her. I just thought that was so fitting (and sad, I love that movie). Although I winced slightly at the "who'd want a heroine like that?" comment Usagi made but it just felt perfectly natural in that conversation. I really wasn't trying to wink at the readers, honest! Anyways, I wasn't trying to hide the character parallels there so I figured you guys would forgive that. Well, 'til next time! Please review because it seems to help my motivation!


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